For the Love of a Raven
by BrieZee
Summary: The new titan has a few quirks, an old friend stops by to heat things up and Raven's in for a bit of trouble as not only does she comes of age with a psychopath and a demon in the tower, but they both want something from her that she can't give.
1. Chp 1 New Members ahoy

**A-N: okay people. This story is what I have seen based off the TV series. I don't know much about their past. So I will be making it up. There is no Terra. I'm just pretending she never came back. Okay, I believe I'm done.**

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**Chp1. New Members ahoy!**

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It was a day like any other day in the titan tower. Star was mixing up some concoction in the kitchen. Robin was channel surfing. Raven was in her room meditating, and Beast boy and Cyborg had went into town for groceries.

_'Hmm hmm hope my friends like the pudding of cheerfulness? Now where is the mustard?'_ Starfire thought to herself happily.

"HEY GUYS! COME AND LOOK AT WHAT WE FOUND." Loud voices yelled from the living room.

Putting down her bubbling blue bowl of terror Starfire left the kitchen to investigate.

"What was that?" Robin asked not looking from the TV.

"Our friends have returned and have brought something for us to look at." Starfire said all cheery.

"Uh...okay...I'll be right there." He said continuing to flip through channels.

"Dude we are right here behind you!" Beast Boy said as he and Cyborg stood behind the couch facing Starfire.

"Oh...okay then that's quite enough TV." Standing up, Robin stretched before joining Starfire on the other side.

"So what's up guys, what is it that you had to show us?"

"Should we not wait for Raven?" Starfire inquired.

"Nahh...she's meditating she won't be down for an hour or so." Robin replied calmly before focusing his attention back to the broadly grinning Cyborg and Beastboy. "Now, what did you two find instead of bringing the groceries?"

"Well now don't get excited, but tah dah!" after Cyborg finished speaking, both he and Beastboy stepped to the side to reveal a slightly burly teenage boy.

The boy was taller than Beastboy, but shorter than Cyborg. He had long curly hair with long bangs that lay across his eyes. His hair was blue with lime green colored eyes. He was wearing a long sleeved blue shirt that stuck well to his muscled form, with a pair of black jeans.

"Hello there Titans my name is Naten." he said in some weird accent that none of them had heard before.

"You guys found a boy, oh how wonderful." Starfire yipped.

"What's with the boy?" Robin asked curiously.

"It's not him...well it is him, but not just him. It's what he can do." Beastboy exclaimed.

"Well what can he do?" Robin.

That's what all three boys seemed to be waiting on, for all of their faces split into mischievous excited looks.

"Well it's a good thing you asked. Cyborg?" Beastboy started as he indicated towards Cyborg.

"Yes why thank you BB. Now Robin, Starfire, Stand back and wait for a demonstration. Naten, you ready?" Cyborg said grinning like crazy.

"Ready as I'll ever be." He said almost lazily. And without warning, Cyborg blasted his sonic cannon (?) at Naten.

"OH MY GOD CYBORG WHAT HAVE YO...whoa!" Robin had started ranting but stood in awe as he saw Naten still standing there unscratched.

"He's Indestructo-Boy. We found him when Cyborg dumped a brick truck filled with whip cream on him. Don't ask."

"So can we keep him? We'll take good care of him. We promise."

"I only have one thing to say. Naten...welcome to the team."

"Why, thank you Robin." He said grinning as he shook hands with the boy wonder.

"But before you become an official member we'll have to see what you're like in the field."

"Okay no prob." He said grinning, before being attacked by the orange alien.

"OH JOY! MORE FRIENDS TOO SHARE IN THE EATING OF THE PUDDING OF CHEERFULNESS."

"Oh no thank you Star, but me and the guys ate in town before coming here." Naten lied, having already been warned about the antics of the little alien.

"Oh that's okay." She said sounding a little disheartened before perking up again. "That leaves more for Raven, I, and Robin." At this, the Boy Wonder paled and began to feel sick.

"No thanks Star but I'll just drink my herbal tea." A monotone voice said from a black hole that appeared in the ceiling.

"Aw. Here comes our little princess of darkness, Raven." Cyborg whispered into Naten's ear, as he looked spellbound at the hole.

Naten watched as a girl around his age fell through the hole only to land on her feet. Her skin was a light gray, but hey, he'd seen weirder, besides Beastboy was green, and Starfire was orange. She had short purple hair, and big beautiful purple eyes.

She had a jewel on her forehead. But what he noticed most of all was her figure. _'Nice legs.'_ He thought as a sly grin crept across his face.

Walking up to her seductive looking self, he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her into a low dip.

"Oh Naten you animal." She giggled.

Not wanting to prove her wrong, he growled, sending her into another fit of giggles. "Kiss me Naten," she said lustily.

"That's what I was born to do baby." He said in a deep Barry White voice.

But before their lips could touch, Raven slipped her fingers onto his mouth and said, "DUDE!"

"Uhh...is he alright?" Raven asked just as confused as everyone else.

"I'm not sure, is he guys." Robin asked quizzically.

"How are we supposed to know we just met him?" Cyborg said as he began to shake the staring Naten, who was beginning to drool.

"Dude he just like zoned out or something." Beastboy said waving his hand in front of Naten's face.

"Hello? Friend Naten? Are you in there?" Starfire asked as she began to poke him.

"Riiight. Well it's good to see we have a genius on the team now." She said sarcastically as she began to fix the pot up for her tea.

Now everyone was looking at Naten again, who, still stared at the spot Raven had been in and began to drool.

"So uhh...what do we do about him?" Robin asked his eyebrow rose at the sight of him.

"Uhh...how about leave him here, and go get the groceries we forgot." Beastboy said aloud.

"..."

"Sounds good to me." Robin shrugged

"Okay." Beastboy said agreeing to his own suggestion.

"I'm driving." Cyborg said matter of factly.

"How about we get a pizza while we're out?" Robin suggested.

"Oh joy can we go to the place of shop and mall?" Starfire squealed excitedly

"Sure why not? You coming Rae?" Cyborg asked staring at Raven.

"No you go ahead I'll rather much stay here and watch the drool monkey." Raven said as she placed the teabag in the pot.

"Umm...okay want us to bring you something back?" Cyborg said scratching his chin.

"Ice Cream and cookies." She said simply.

"Ice cream and cookies?" Beastboy said unbelievingly.

"That's what I said."

"That's so unlike you Raven." Starfire said with a little concern in her voice.

"Yeah it's kind of weird hearing that from you." Robin said, putting in his two cents.

"I have a sweet tooth okay." She told them turning away from them as she got a cup from the cupboard.

"Alright then people let's move out." Cyborg yelled over their heads.

Raven watched as they all walked out the door, and as it slammed shut Naten fell to the ground.

"Yeah. Real genius." And with that said, Raven left the room, all the while sipping on her tea.

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>>>>>>A while later. Not long. Just maybe a few minutes. >>>>>>>>>

"Ugh!" Naten groaned as he came back to reality. Realizing he was on the floor, he pulled himself up.

"Where did everybody go?" he asked himself aloud.

"Ah. I see you've awakened. Was beginning to think you'd died on us." A monotone voice said behind him. Turning around he saw her. Raven, standing a few feet away from the staircase, staring at him with a book in hand.

"Hi." He tried to say, but it came out in a high-pitched squeak. At this Raven raised an eyebrow. Clearing his throat, he tried again. "Ahem...I mean hi. I don't believe we've been properly introduced." He said regaining some of his cool.

Going over to her, he held out his hand. "Hi, I'm Naten."

Steady looking him in the face she just simply said: "Raven" then walked around him, heading for her favorite chair in the living room.

Not a least bit discouraged he hurried up, stood in front of her, grabbed her upper arms making her drop her book in surprise, and leaned over her, for he was taller, with waggling eyebrows. "You know, where I'm from, we greet each other with a kiss, so how bout it."

Raven's eyes widened, then she grew angry.

_'Oh how cool, her eyes are glowing white.' He _thought. Then all hell broke loose.

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>>>>>>>>>>>>The Gang has made it home>>>>>>>>>>>>

"Is too."

"Is not."

"Is too."

"Is not."

"Is too"

"Is not."

"Dude shaving cream is too so much thicker than whip cream."

"See that's where you're wrong BB. Whip cream is thicker than shaving cream. It's a known written fact."

"Dude, written where?"

"In the Book of Known Written Facts."

"So Robin tell me again, how this conversation of pickles and hot sauce, came to the talking of the thickness of shaving cream and whipping cream."

"Uhhhhh...?" Robin couldn't say anything he was stumped as to why their living room looked like a war zone and why Raven was sitting in her untouched chair reading a book as if everything looked normal.

"Dude what happened here?" Beastboy asked as they all looked around.

There were things up-turned. Scorch marks here and there. Things broken things exploded. Things hanging on threads. Things just hanging. Lights blinking. Lights blowed out and absolutely no sight of Naten.

"Uhh...Rae, did you kill Nate." Cyborg asked casually.

"No." Raven said dully from behind her book.

"So...where is he?" Robin asked.

Not bothering to answer them, she just pointed up. And slowly, they all looked up to the ceiling, and their jaws dropped. For on the ceiling, wiggling around with muffled screams was a cocoon of Raven's Dark energy.

Just as slowly as they looked up, they looked back down at Raven.

"In the cocoon?" Cyborg asked.

"Yep."

"Is he okay?" Robin asked this time.

"Nope."

"Uhh, Raven..."Beastboy started.

"Why is friend Naten in a cocoon?" Starfire finished for him.

Finally, lowering her book she stood up and looked at them with angry eyes. "He just doesn't know when to quit." with that said and done, she began to leave, and as she walked under the cocoon Robin stopped her.

"Uhh...Raven are you gonna...you know...let him go?"

Turning around Raven sighed then rolled her eyes. "Fine."

"Ahhhhhh!" Naten Screamed as he fell to the ground at Raven's feet. "THE LIGHT! OH THE LIGHT! IT WAS SO DARK, BUT NOW I SEE THE LIGHT!" As he screamed this, he pulled himself up weakly, and now lent on Raven's shoulder for support as he rambled on eccentrically. "OH GOD, IT WAS HORIBLE IN THERE! THE DARKNESS...THE DARKNESS! AHHHHHHH! Oh hi you're back."

"Uhhh...yeah." Robin said just as confused as everyone else.

"You know Raven, even though you tried to blow me up, threw things at me, threw me into things, and locked me away in the Cocoon of Doom... I forgive you."

Raven just stared straight ahead at the others as he said this, arms crossed and an annoyed look on her face.

After saying that he forgave her, Naten hugged Raven and lifted her into the air. Raven still just stared ahead.

The others watched speechless as Raven stared at them, they watched speechless as Naten hugged her, they watched speechless as Raven's eyes glowed white, and they watched speechless as she blasted him away into a pile of over-turned chairs.

Breathing heavily Raven stared at him angrily then turned to the others. "He. Doesn't. Know. When. To. Stop...is that my ice cream and cookies." She asked looking at the bag Cyborg held.

He just nodded then held it out to her. Taking it away from him she looked inside, then closed it, held it to her chest, then sighed a contented sigh.

Turning to leave, a spoon glowed black, and levitated after her, as she went up the stairs.

The remaining titan's heads turned as the pile of chairs parted to reveal Naten. Rubbing his head, he looked up the stairs where Raven had disappeared and smiled. "Yeah...she wants me."

Just as he said that, a glowing black pot flew at him, hitting him in the head and knocking him out

"Well this should prove to be interesting." Robin said more to himself than the others.

And as part of the ceiling crashed to the floor, the others agreed readily.

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**>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Later. Not later, right quick. But a while later. And not a while later like going to the store and coming right back. I mean a while later like some birthdays could have passed later. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>**

Everyone was busy doing something.

Cyborg and Beastboy were playing video games. Starfire was excitingly watching them. Robin was training in the gym. Naten was sitting in Raven's favorite armchair strumming on his guitar. And Raven was off upstairs doing whatever Raven does alone.

"Arghhhhhh!" an angry screamed sounded out from upstairs, causing everyone to stop what they were doing.

Not soon after Raven appeared at the foot of the stairs fuming and cloakless.

"Where are they?"

"What are you looking Raye?" Cyborg asked as they all stood up from there sitting positions.

Calming herself down, Raven answered back in her usual drone voice. "My cloaks. I can't find any of them. Have you seen them?"

"Nope can't say that I have." Cyborg answered her shaking his head.

"No luck here Rae?" Beastboy said raising his arms in the air. "Besides I'm not allowed in your room, remember?"

"I am sorry friend Raven, but I have not seen your...um...cloaks." Starfire apologized.

All eyes turned towards Nate, who had not stopped strumming his guitar.

Rolling her eyes, Raven sighed. "Nate have you seen my cloaks?"

"Why are you asking me? Why not ask Robin? Maybe he stole your cloaks. Why do I have to be the one to steal them?" he asked never looking up from his guitar.

"Just. Answer. The. Question." Raven growled.

"No. I have not seen your horrible, heavier-than-they-look, purple, hide-body parts-I-want-to-see cloaks."

Everyone stared knowingly at him.

"They're in your room aren't they?" Raven confirmed. And without waiting for an answer, she began to leave.

Turning around her eyes widened momentarily as she found Naten standing centimeters from her.

"They may be in there. They may be getting washed. Or they may have accidentally snuck out of your room, took a bath in gasoline, and committed suicide by jumping into the furnace. But you'll never know. Unless you show me some form of affection."

"Fine" she sighed causing everyone to face fault and Nate to go dreamy eyed. "I'll just go with out a cloak", and with that said she tossed Nate out of her way over her head, and then went up the stairs.

Getting to his feet, Nate yelled up the stairs. "That's okay I still win! You will never fine your cloaks! Muahahahah!"

"Dude your whacked!" Beastboy yelled to the clueless Nate.

"What are you talking about? That's the future mother of my kids."

"You should not push so hard to gain Raven's heart. You should get her to like you before letting her have your kids. Which I do not understand why you want to give your kids away to Raven in the future. Do you not like your kids?"

"Star, I don't have kids."

"But did you not just say..."

"You know what forget it. Just shhh...be quiet."

"Alright but I am still confused."

"Shhhh."

"You know what man; just leave Raven alone okay before you get hurt." Cyborg whispered to him as he walked passed.

"Raven wouldn't try to hurt me."

"I wasn't talking about Raven."

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**Well that's the end of my first chapter. The number of reviews I get for chapter one will determine whether I continue with the story or not. **


	2. Chp 2 Advice from a Cyborg

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**Chp. 2 Advice from a Cyborg******

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_Ding Dong_

_Ding Dong_

_Ding Dong_

"Wasn't anyone gonna answer the door around here." Robin asked coming in from the training room.

"Ugg!" Cyborg grunted as he continued to play the video game.

"Erg!" Beastboy grunted neither he nor Cyborg stopping their game. 

"Erma!" Naten replied headphones on his head, seemingly not hearing Robin or the doorbell.

"So I'm guessing none of you hear the doorbell." Robin sighed more to himself than the boys.

"Nope!" they all said simultaneously.

"HA Ha! That's funny." He said darkly as he went over to the door.

On opening the door, Robin jumped back startled, as all he saw was a pair of icy blue eyes. "Finally. I was beginning to think that you'd never answer." A male voice said in a drone voice.

"Err. Who are you and what do you want?" Robin asked peering into the darkness.

"Oh yeah, you want an intro." The voice said as it stepped into the light, showing a guy around 17. He had shaggy black hair, and baggy black clothes. He was lean and tall, and had black nails. "Well, I'm Pike...and I've come to pick up Raven."

"**_WHAT!!!"_**An infuriated yell sounded out behind Robin, who paled at the sound.

If Robin hadn't of blocked Pike's view of the room, he would have saw Cyborg and Beastboy wrestling an enraged Naten to the ground as he tried to get to Pike, but it seemed futile as Naten's effort was too much and he was slowly dragging the two with him.

"So...little dude, are you going to go get her or what?" Pike asked getting impatient.

"Huh, oh yeah...umm...**_RAAAAVEEEEEN! SOMEONE'S AT THE DOOR FOR YOOOOOOOOOUU!"_** Robin yelled at the top of his lungs towards the ceiling. "She'll be down in a minute." He said turning back to Pike, whose hair was standing on in.

"I suppose so." He said gaining his posture back.

"Robin!" someone yelled behind him. Turning around Robin saw that it was Cyborg who had yelled. It would seem that Cyborg and Beastboy each had one of Naten's arms and was spinning around off the ground, as Naten spun fastly in a mini tornado, slinging the two boys across the room. Now with nothing to hold him back, Naten began to make his way towards the clueless Pike, a promise of pain and hurt clearly written on his face and in his blazing white fire eyes, as an invisible wind began to blow around him.

Without a moment's hesitation Robin took a flying leap at Naten just as Raven arrived blocking the fight from Pike's view again.

"Hey Raven. Ready to go?" Pike asked in his Drone voice.

"Yeah, let's go." she said in her monotone voice. **(Wahoo, Party animals.)**

"No cloak?" he asked after giving her the once over. Making Naten, even madder seeing as how he was full out running in place trying to get to him, but was successfully being held back by Robin, Cyborg, Beastboy, and the newly arrived Starfire.

"No, I decided to try something new." she said making everyone realize that she wasn't wearing her teen titan uniform. She had a long black skirt, with black knee high boots under it. Her shirt was a long sleeved black shirt with butterfly sleeves, and white sparkles.

"Outrageously retro." he complemented in his drone voice.

"Thanks." she said as he put his arm around her shoulders as they walked out, the door sliding close behind them.

With the doors closed and Pike safely out of harms way, the titans released their hold on Naten, who careened out of control and hit the door in a head on collision rendering himself unconscious and leaving a good sized dent in the door.

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"HOW COULD SHE DO THIS TO ME?" Naten cried out in misery.

"She doesn't even like you. Get over it." Cyborg told the wailing teen, as they made their way to the kitchen for breakfast.

"HOW COULD SHE CHEAT ON ME?" he yelled.

"Dude, you two weren't going out." Beastboy reasoned with him.

"So what's your point?" Naten said calmly casting him a lazy eye. 

"Hey Nate, what was up with those weird powers, and white fire eyes yesterday?" Cyborg asked as he and Beastboy moved in closer for an explanation.

Stopping in his tracks Naten looked at the two before opening his mouth but then closed it as if having a second thought. "Hey look, what are Starfire and Robin looking at?" he asked pointedly changing the subject as they walked over to Robin and Starfire, who were looking non-blinkedly **(is that a word.)** up at the ceiling.

"So...uh...what's up guys? And I really truly mean it, what's up?" Beastboy asked the two staring teens.

"Uh...Raven." Robin put simply pointing towards the ceiling.

At the sound of Raven's name, Naten saw hearts in his eyes and he began to look around frantically. "Raven. My love. Where is she? Where? Where? Where?"

"Maybe," Cyborg said, grabbing Naten by his head, and positioning it in the correct direction. "You should look to where there pointing."

Looking up, Naten saw where she was. She was lying down, in the clothes she had worn last night...on the ceiling.** (Can you lie down on a ceiling? Would you say lying down or lying up? I haven't a clue, but for now, it's laying down...on the ceiling.)**

"What's she doing up there?" Beastboy asked, as they all now looked unblinking at Raven.

"She's sleeping. You see because when she's sleep her hair always lies across her face, and she doesn't even feel it if when her soft breathing brushes it across her face." Naten stated matter-of-factly.

Now everyone was looking at him strangely. _"How do you know that?"_ Cyborg asked him suspiciously.

"Huh...you're crazy. I don't sneak in Raven's room at night to watch her sleep. You're crazy. Eh heh heh heh hehhh. Woo."

"Dude. When Raven finds out she's gonna kick your as..." Beastboy told him seriously only to be cut off by Robin.

"Assssssssss I was saying." Robin cut in saving Starfire's virgin ears from foul language. "We should really get breakfast undergo. The smell of food might wake Raven up, and then we can ask her about her new sleeping experiment."

"Oh smooth one Robin, now we're gonna have to eat..."

"TOFU!" Beastboy yelled happily running into the Kitchen.

"No we're not, we're having real food." Cyborg yelled running after him.

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Raven awoke to the sound of video games, music, and hunger pains. Opening her eyes and sitting up she immediately became dizzy.

_'Oh yeah.'_ she thought realizing she was on the ceiling. Looking down (or is it up.) she saw Cyborg and Naten in the Rec room. Cyborg playing video games, and Nate lay sprawled across her favorite chair, listening to his CD player.

Without warning she drooped down onto the couch in a sitting position. Cyborg was either too focused on his game or he just ignored her.

She didn't stay in a sitting position for long. With a dazed look on her face, she slumped down, her hands under her head.

"RAVEN!" an over-excited voice yelled as the silhouette of a body appeared over Raven, before being surrounded by black energy and tossed out of an open window.

"What's wrong with you Rae? Usually you'd send him through a closed window? What up with that?" Cyborg asked her, never looking up from his game.

"I'm feeling nice today, besides I needed him out of the room while I ask you something."

"And what would that be?"

"It's him. What can I do to make him leave me alone?"

"Eat him." Cyborg said simply, eyes still glued to the screen.

"What?!" she asked sitting up to look at him.

"You heard me. I said Eat him. You're a demon, so eat him. Eat him alive."

"..........you're sick and twisted. I don't even know what I was thinking asking you, I'll figure it out myself. Eat him, what is wrong with you?" Raven muttered loud enough for Cyborg to hear as she mad her way up the stairs to her room.

"Just trying to help."

**A few minutes later.******

"Hey have you ever noticed those big pointy rocks at the bottom of the tower." Naten huffed as he slumped on the couch besides Cyborg.

"Nope. Is that's what's bothering you?" Cyborg asked, steady playing his game.

"No. How can I get Raven to notice me? Better yet, how do I get her to like me? Does she even know?" Nate asked facing Cyborg with a serious look.

Putting his game on pause, Cyborg sighed and turned to look at Naten.

"Hey Nate? Do you remember when you first got here, and I threatened you for messing with Raven?"

"Yeah, you kind of scared me. But I ignored it."

"Yeah I know." Cyborg said sarcastically. "You see I only did that because I thought you were fooling with her and I didn't want her to get hurt, because Raven's like a little demonic sister to me, but now I realize you really like her. A lot. Too damn much if you ask me. I've been in your room. It's creepy."

"Okay, yeah, whatever. What were you about to say?"

"Oh yeah. Well seeming as how you actually like Raven, I'll help you out a little. Not much, because I actually like to see all the ways she can hurt you. My favorite was the thing with the TV, the mirror, and the closet."

"That's not funny dude. That was pure torture. Now about that piece of information I was about to receive."

"Okay, now see all you have to do is......."

**(I hope you didn't think I was going to tell y****ou****.)******

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Raven spent a good number of the day locked in her room meditating, but the beginnings of hunger had flushed her out in need of food. She had been finding it harder to control her powers and emotions lately. For example the sleeping on the ceiling.

Walking down the hall in her leotard, Raven once again missed the weight, feel, and protection of her cloaks. Although she couldn't stand him, Raven had to give Naten points on hiding them, because she was certain he hadn't destroyed them.

Speaking of Nate, he was certainly a mystery to her, with his strange abilities, weird personality, and his creepy infatuation with her; he made her question his origin. For she was certainly sure he wasn't just another human with special abilities. He was something more.

On arriving in the living room she wasn't surprise to see everyone glued to the TV, with Naten sitting in his usual spot when she wasn't there.

_'Why is he always in my chair?_' she thought a little angrily as she began to make her way past them and into the kitchen.

On seeing Raven enter, Cyborg and Naten exchanged looks and Naten set to work. Jumping off the chair he suddenly appeared in front of Raven, with a serious, dead set, determined look upon his face. Cyborg, along with Beastboy, Starfire, and Robin (who had absolutely no clue about what was going on.) all switched their gazes from the TV to the fight they knew was about to take place.

Stopping in her tracks, after finding her path blocked by a certain blue haired, green eyed boy. Raven stepped to the left trying to avoid him, but he stepped in front of her. Stepping to the right she again found her way blocked by him. Rolling her eyes and sighing she used her powers to blast him out of her way.

Seeing her eyes glow white Naten readied himself, and when he felt the familiar(too familiar) hold of her powers he stood his ground, grabbed her into a spaced hug, and countered her attack with one of his own, that he never used.

The others watched in wide eyed fascination as the Raven's black energy, that was surrounding Naten, was simply..._blown_ off him. _'How did he do that?_' they wondered.

Although she too was surprised, she didn't let it show. And since powers weren't affecting him at the moment she decided to use brute force. Raising her hand up to slap him, this time her face did show surprise as he caught it, and looked deeply into her eyes with a look that made something stir within her.

With one arm around her waist and the other holding her hand, Nate had the upper hand in the situation and decided to use it as he leant in slowly for a kiss, and Raven, too stunned and shocked, simply stared into his hypnotic, lime green eyes.

A mere second before his lips touched hers Raven snapped out of her trance like state to realize what was going on, but it was too late.

The others watched as Raven's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates as Naten kissed her. They didn't know either too laugh or say '_awwww'_.

Face tomato red from blushing, Raven turned into the shadow of a bird and flew out of Nate's arm, and out of his reach as she flew across the floor to emerge on the far wall by the stairs, which she ascended soon after sending some projectile (the microwave) at Nate, but as she did all this her face still held that of wide eyes, a blush, and the look _'I can't believe you just did that'._

After getting up from the collision with the microwave and his head, Nate looked to the others with a questioning look. "Did she blush?"

The others nodded silently.

A wide smile spread across Naten's face. "YES! YES! I HAVE A CHANCE! YES! GO NATE, GO NATE, IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY! RAVEN LIKES YOU! SHAKE YO BOOTY!"

* * *

**(Later that day)******

Again we find Cyborg alone playing video games.

"Oh yeah! I'm gonna get you! I am going to get _you_!" he yelled to the screen as his fighting warrior killed off the bad guy. "Boo yah!" he yelled as he stood up and began to do the happy dance. Turning around he yelled in fright as eh suddenly found Raven standing there with a pleasant look on her face.

_'She must've liked that kiss more than I thought.'_ He mused in his head. "Hey there little lady. What going on?"

"Cyborg?" she asked in a sickly sweet voice that made him want to run away screaming in fright.

"Yeah?" he asked suspiciously, subconsciously inching backwards, before he found himself hanging in the air, by a giant hand made of black energy. "What did I do?" he choked out.

"You know damn well what you did!" she growled out. Teeth baring fangs and eyes glowing angry white. No one seemed to notice that they would start to fade towards red before becoming white.

"I'm sorry." He said, his voice make a gurgling sound.

Eyes nothing but slits now, Raven dropped Cyborg to the floor. Now back to normal she pointed a finger at him. "And don't let this conversation have to happen again."

"TITANS, TROUBLE DOWNTOWN! MOVE OUT!" Robin's voice yelled over the intercom

* * *

"Well that was easier than I thought." Robin said as they watched the police drive away with the bank robber in back.

"Just a measly bank robbing." Beastboy piped up.

"Hey I'm not complaining." Cyborg said. _'Saved me from Raven Rath's wrath.'_

"If you do not back off little boy, I will be forced to hurt you." Raven said in her usual monotone voice to Naten, who had been trying to put his arm around her.

"Step away from the Raven. You're going to get me in trouble again." Cyborg said desperately.

Like a scolded puppy, Naten hung his head and sulked off.

With no one around her, there was no one close enough to save Raven from the sneak attack that sent her flying into the building and getting buried under the tons of brick that fell off it.

"RAVEN!" the titans yelled as they ran to help her, but when they started to move towards her a yellow and red dome appeared around them, and stopped them from moving.

Red eyed and growling like an animal, Raven phased through the bricks and began looking around for her assailant. A beam of yellow energy shot out towards Raven, but this time she dodged it. Looking to where the beam came from. She looked up, and saw, standing atop a light post, her attacker.

Their features were covered in its yellow energy and its eyes were glowing orange. Growling a more vicious growl Raven's body became like that of her opponents, only her body became shrouded with her black energy and her eyes glowed white.

The two opponents stared off at each other as the street became unnaturally quiet, besides the titans in the dome who tried fruitlessly to break their bondage. Inside Nate could be seen, with his white fire eyes again and the titan's hair and closed being whipped by a wind that only affected them.

As if on some unknown cue, Raven and her opponent charged at each other. Just before they reach each other Raven's opponent jumped over her attempting to attack her from behind, but seeing this Raven followed them with her eyes and waited to they got in the right position before firing her own beam, which hit her opponent in the air and sent them crashing into a near by building.

Seeming unfazed that they had just made an impression of their body in the side of a building; the mysterious opponent kicked off from the building and plowed into Raven, digging a hole in the concrete as they slid across the pavement.

Using this to her advantage, Raven slid her feet under her opponent and kicked up, sending the flying into the same building she had crashed into before.

Standing she began to make her way to her assailant on to get hit by one of their yellow beams and get sent flying backwards to hit the pavement, leaving a good size crater in her wake. Grunting, Raven got up to see her adversary heading towards their hands ready to fire off another beam. Quickly getting up, she looked around for a weapon of some sorts, and her eyes landed on the light post. Using her powers she wrenched it from the ground and grabbed it out of the air. Hitting on the ground a few times, checking for sturdiness, she looked just like a baseball player up to bat. Her antagonist, seeing what she had, began to run at her, in hopes of catching her before she was ready, but was surprised when she swung it at them, and sent them flying back into that same building again. **(Poor building.)**

Going over to her fallen opponent, Raven raised the light post, ready to strike them with it, but a yellow beam hit it before it could come down, and melted it on impact. Having her weapon destroyed and her opponent getting up, Raven jumped back a few feet, and again Raven and her foe had a stare off.

* * *

By this time all the titans in the red and yellow dome had stopped to watch the fight in awe.

"Never knew Rae had it in her?" Cyborg commented.

"Yeah you go Raven." Beastboy cheered.

"My woman kicks ass." Nate yelled.

"Friend Raven is a good fighter, yes?" Starfire said.

"Wow! She better than I thought." Robin observed.

* * *

"So Raven. This is where you've been hiding huh?" the opponent said to Raven, in a deep male voice, smirking, although you couldn't see it.

"I haven't been hiding _Meashale_." She growled.

"Do you know how long and hard I've been looking for you?" Meashale asked her.

"Don't know, don't care." She growled again as she charged him.

This time their fight was all punches and kicks. She'd throw punches and kicks, he'd duck and dodge and vice versa. When she finally landed a hit, she sent him sliding back on his feet.

Stopping by a lamp post he grabbed it out the ground and swung it at Raven, but seeing this coming Raven jumped up in the air and ran up the length of the lamppost.

"Copycat." She said before she kicked him in the head and sent him yet again flying into a building.

Running up to him, she pinned him to the wall, but he grabbed her around the neck, lifted her into the air and switched places, with her so that she was on the wall, and Raven wrapped her legs around his waist and grabbed his neck and tried to squeeze him to death.

It was a stalemate, and ever so slowly their grips on each other eased up as they leant in to kiss the other. And as they kissed their features became noticeable as they focused on nothing but each other.

"Ahem." A voice said interrupting the two demon's intimate moment.

"Hmm?" Raven asked in a dazed voice as they broke their kiss.

"Um...what's going on here?" Robin asked.

"Yeah that's what the hell I want to know." Naten said angrily his eyes glaring daggers at the boy with Raven.

"Robin? Oh Robin!" Raven said in surprised voice. Turning to look at the boy who was holding her and seeing his smug look then back to the titans, she quickly dislodged herself from him.

"So who is this?" Cyborg asked curiously.

"This is...umm...this is."

But the boy answered for her. He was slightly taller than Raven, and had Spiky red hair that seemed to defy gravity, and shiny black eyes. He wore a black Gi, and was barefoot. "Hi there." He said grinning. "My names Meashale, but you can call me Measha, and I'm Raven's mate."

At this the titans looked to Raven to see if it was true. But Raven simply blushed and looked away. So they looked back to Measha, he jus grinned and wrapped an arm around Raven's waist and pulled her to him.

And then Naten passed out.


	3. Chp 3 Meet My Mate

****

* * *

Chp. 3 Meet My Mate

* * *

Back at the Tower, the titans all situated themselves in the living room to question Raven's _mate_. Not because they didn't trust him, well none of them mistrusted him besides Naten, but because they were curious.

"Soooo." Robin started. "If you're Raven's mate, why did you attack her?"

"I didn't attack her, as you say. I merely tried to gain her attention. Besides I couldn't hurt Raven if I wanted to." Measha said from his position in Raven's Favorite chair, with her sitting in his lap.

"Hey I have a question." Beastboy said suddenly. "Isn't Meashale a girl's name?" he asked trying to crack a joke.

"And shouldn't green things be thrown in the garbage?" Measha snapped at him.

"Ooh...touché." Beastboy said feigning a wound to the chest.

"You said earlier that you were Rae's mate. So does that mean you've...mated?" Cyborg asked while making hand gestures.

"Oh we've mated, but we haven't _mated_ mated." Measha told them while waggling his eyebrows and making Raven slap him in the back of the head.

"So if you haven't _mated_ mated, then how can you two be mates?" Robin asked this time. Starfire just sat there listening to the others questions getting answered, while Nate sat fuming on the far end of the couch but listening none the less.

"Well you see. Me and Raven are soul mates, and before you say anything. It has a different meaning from where we're from."

"It means we were born to be each others mates. Our souls have a connection to each other you might say." Raven answered once seeing there confused faces.

"Okay so you haven't _mated_ mated yet, but you are going to _mate_ mate when you're older." Beastboy asked as they all tried to figure it out.

Raven and Measha looked at each other, then back to the titans with horrified expressions and said at the same time; "No way in hell I'll mate with him/Maybe when I've hit rock bottom and become senile."

Now, all the titans had question marks above there heads. "Why?" Starfire finally asked.

"Because I would never mate for life with a cold, mean, emotionless, dark witch." Measha growled out ferociously while giving Raven an extremely evil glare.

By now, the question marks grew in size and began to blink.

"And I would never mate with an evil, sadistic, heartless, bastard of a fire demon, who does everything Daddy says." Raven growled out just as ferociously giving him a just as evil glare.

The question marks grew out of proportion and blew up.

"Uhhh...huh?"

"We hate each other." They both said.

"You two don't look like you hate each other too much." Naten mumbled loud enough for all to here.

"Like I said earlier, we're soul mates. And even though we hate each other's guts, our bond forces us to be attractive to each other, lustful for each other, desire one another's whole being. If Raven dies then I'll be left feeling empty, and it's the same for her with me." Measha told them, although his eyes were trained on Raven as he leant in to kiss her.

Naten had had enough. Standing up abruptly from his spot he marched passed the two mates and began to make his way towards the stairs, but as he bumped pass Measha and their bodies touched, time just seemed to stop for everyone but the two.

Turning his head to look at Nate, just as Nate turned to look at him, the two glared dangerously into each others eyes.

_'I know what you are boy.'_ Measha said with a wicked smile.

_'And so what?_' Naten asked as he continued to glare at him.

_'And I suggest you act right or risk me telling your little friends.'_

_'Tell them, I don't care. They're my friends they'll accept me no matter.'_

_'Yes maybe, but what about Raven? I don't think our kind and your kind get along too well.'_

_'But Raven isn't evil like you and the rest of your kind.'_

_'You don't think Raven is capable of being evil. You just wait until I'm finished with her.'_

_'You stay the fuck away from her demon. She's mine.'_

_'So much hostility. Take her, I don't care for the little witch, I'm only here on her father's orders.'_

_'What do you mean?'_

_'Daddy wants his little girl by his side as he rules. So he sent me here to...persuade her.' _

_'You keep away from Raven you here. She's not evil. I want allow it.'_

_'Yes, whatever you say prince, but we shall see who comes up triumphant.'_

_'Yes, we shall see.'_

Then time restarted itself as Naten continued his way marching to his room, and Measha looked back to the titans, all wickedness gone from his face.

"What's up with your little boyfriend Raven?" Measha teased as they watched Nate leave.

"He's just a little upset. He'll be back to his old crazy out of his mind self in a little while. So, tell us Measha, what has brought you here to our little town?" Cyborg asked Measha in a cheerful voice.

"What? Raven didn't tell you?" Measha asked in a surprised voice.

"Well it's Raven's birthday next week and also her coming of age," he continued as they all nodded no.

"What, demon...puberty?" Beastboy asked curiously as Raven gave him the stink eye.

"Well sort of. The coming of age is the time when a demon's powers become ripe, and I have to come and help Raven keep them under control."

"What do you mean keep them under control?" Robin asked as he became concerned.

"Oh nothing bad. It just Raven's emotions are going to be manifesting all week and I have to counteract them so none get the run of the mill or Raven will be stuck with a dominating emotion. For example, when she becomes all hyper and happy, I have to make sure she either gets it out of her system or get her to feel some other emotion."

"Oh is that all, we can help with that." Cyborg said as they got what was going to happen. "We'll knock some sense in her if she gets out of control."

"You know I'm right here and can hear you all, right?" Raven said in her monotone voice as she looked at them all.

"Why did you not tell us you were having a birthday, friend Raven? We are going to have a marvelous time. We shall sing the song of birth becoming, and eat the day of birth pudding, and we shall have presents and shall be most joyous don't you think friend Raven?" Starfire said happily as she stood up and began to plan Raven's party.

"What's wrong with that chick?" Measha asked Raven in her ear as they watched Starfire bounce around.

"She's not from this planet." Raven told him quietly.

"Ah. Oh yeah speaking of not from around here, I found this in the in-between and thought that you might like it back." he said as he held his palm out in front of them, where a ball of flame suddenly appeared before going out and revealing a rather large box.

The other titans who had been startled by the blazing fire in Measha's hand, all watched curiously as Raven opened the box up.

"It's my cloaks." Raven said surprised evident in her voice, but not on her face. "Where did you say you found these again?"

"In the in-between."

"What's the _in-between_?" Beastboy asked in a spooky voice.

"It's the area between realms." Raven answered as she put her cloaks back in the box.

"How did they get there?" Robin asked.

But Raven didn't answer; instead she simply looked up at the ceiling.

* * *

A very groggy Robin found himself stumbling into the kitchen thinking he was the first to awaken, only to find Raven already sitting at the table sipping her tea. 

"Keep going, you're holding up traffic." A sleepy Cyborg yawned loudly as he stumbled pass Robin.

"Good morning Raven." Robin said as he came to stand across from her.

"Good morning Robin, Cyborg. I hope you both slept well," she said in a far off voice as she stared into space.

"Slept well? How could we, with you and your boyfriend keeping everyone up with all that noise." Cyborg said angrily/teasingly, as he began to make himself some breakfast.

"Umm yeah, what he said." Robin said as he blushed for Raven, who didn't seem to have heard Cyborg, seeing as how she continued to stare off into space.

"Umm yeah, okay." Raven said off handedly.

"Uh...Rae...are you alright?" Cyborg asked concernedly.

"Oh umm...I was just thinking." She said coming out of her little dazed as she smiled at them all.

"What were you thinking about?" Robin asked.

"I was thinking..." but she seemed to trail off as she looked at him. She frowned and looked him up and down, before giving him a teasing grin. (Not naughty teasing, but _'nana nanas boo boo'_ teasing.) "I was just thinking about what type of underwear you wear with tights." she said so boldly that Both Cyborg and Robin nearly passed out, but Cyborg only got so far as too drop the pans and food he was holding, while Robin only became slightly wobbly-kneed.

"Uhhhhhh...huh?" Robin murmured out intelligently.

"I mean yeah, what type of underwear do you wear? Do you wear tighty wighties or manly boxers?"

"Again. Uhhhhhh...Huh?"

"It's been bugging me ever since I met you. Why do you wear them, does it make you feel pretty, or are they just comfortable?"

"Rae, what's the wrong with you?" Cyborg asked as he came within arms length of Raven, just incase she needed to be restrained.

"Nothing's wrong with me, except those damn tights!" Raven yelled before jumping out of her chair and climbing over the table trying to reach Robin.

And Robin, seeing as how the unstable Raven was heading towards him, quickly tried to get away, but it was too late. Raven had him.

With one foot on the back of Robin's head, and both her hands on the back of his tights, Raven was giving Robin one ultimate wedgie.

"Alright! Good for you, boxers." Raven yelled triumphantly as she finally released Robin, who collapsed to the ground in pain.

"Okay Rae calm down. Now tell me. Who gave you drugs?" Cyborg asked in a calm soothing voice as he slowly began to approach.

"Please, like I would ever do drugs. Hey! Cye man!" Raven suddenly yelled as an idea struck her. "Let's wrestle." She suggested as she got into a pouncing position with her arms poised in the air for attack.

"What!" Cyborg yelled before Raven's lithe body was hurled at him, sending them both crashing to the ground.

"What is going on in here?" Beastboy asked loudly when he entered the room for breakfast, only to find Robin with a humongous wedgie and Cyborg and Raven having a wrestling match on the 's too...late." Robin warned him as he grunted in pain.

"What are you talking about, and what's with Raven, is she on drugs?"

"HELP! HELP! SOMEONE GET HER OFF ME!" Cyborg yelled pounding his fists into the ground, as Raven had him in a leg lock.

"I cannot believe it. Another pair of tights. I know you're wearing tighty wighties." Raven said as she released Cyborg and attacked Beastboy.

Neither Robin nor Cyborg bothered to help Beastboy, as he was brutally rendered unconscious.

"I knew it...Briefs." Raven said triumphantly, as she sat on Beastboy's back.

"Who gave my wife drugs?" Nate asked in a sort of threatening voice, as he stood in the stairway, having witnessed the brutal attack of Beastboy.

"I am not on drugs." Raven said annoyed as she got up off the floor and put on her hood of her cloaks.

"How the hell did you get those cloaks back?" Nate suddenly asked angrily.

"Measha found them." She said not looking at him, as she went back to her tea, ignoring the way Cyborg and Robin avoided her.

"Measha." Nate growled in a un-Nate like way.

"Do you want to know _where_ Measha found my cloaks?"

"Nope, not really." Nate said with shifty eyes, as he began to ascend the steps slowly.

"No, I think you should know. He found them in the in-between."

"The in-between? Damn, they didn't make it across!"

"Just where were you trying to send them?"

"You know what? I think I hear my mother calling." Naten said before disappearing up the stairs, passing a half sleep Meashale on the way.

"Raven, tell your little boyfriend to watch were he's going next time," he said as he stopped to yawn barely dodging the fork that embedded itself in the wall where his head had been. Looking at the fork with wide eyes, Measha looked back at Raven with a disapproving glare. "Someone aim needs some work."

"I wasn't trying." She said monotonously.

"Sure you weren't." he said disbelievingly, as he stepped over Beastboy to come sit beside her. "So what's for breakfast?" he asked Cyborg and Robin, who had been silent so not to draw attention.

Looking over to Beastboy, Cyborg smiled. "Not tofu." he said overly cheerful.

* * *

The titans sat boredly in the living room not doing much. 

Robin watched as Cyborg and Beastboy raced each other with their game station. Raven was reading a book in her favorite armchair and striking the fireball Measha was throwing at her, back at him with a bat made of her dark energy, and Starfire was in the kitchen concocting some poison. Naten hadn't been seen since breakfast.

"What do you humans do for fun?" Measha finally asked clearly angry as he tried to singe Raven's hair with a fast, violent, throw. Which she deflected and glared hatefully at him.

The titans looked at him before shrugging and turning back to do what they were doing.

Growing angry, Measha formed a huge ball of fire in his hand and was about to launch it at the unsuspecting titans when the alarm went off.

"Oh what's the matter baby? Did the alarm scare you?" Raven teased as she saw Measha jump in fright. Only to get a fireball thrown at her that she deflected back at him, making him duck, and become even angrier.

"TITANS LETS GO! THE HIVE ARE DOWNTOWN AND WREAKING HAVOC!" Robin yelled as he attended to the alarm.

"What about Nate?" Beastboy asked as they began to head out.

"No time, he'll come on his own." Robin told him as they all ran out.

"Now this is the kind of fun I'm talking about." Measha yelled happily as a sadistic smile spread across his face.

* * *

The titans were making a quit progress of defeating the hive. Two on one, unfair yes, but...ok it just plain unfair. 

Robin and Measha vs. Gizmo

Raven and Starfire vs. Jinx

Cyborg and Beastboy vs. mammoth

Nate had yet to show.

The fight ended rather quickly, ignoring the fact that the HIVE was outnumbered, and the cops had arrived to load the teen villains up in the paddy wagon.

"Naughty, naughty, you must not take what is not yours." Beastboy teased Mammoth and Jinx as he held the ruby on a rope in their faces, but jumped back from fright as they growled at him.

The two of them had been driven back to back by Beastboy and Starfire when Cyborg and Raven had wrench poles and wrapped around them.

"Hey what you working on their tiny?" Cyborg asked as he saw Gizmo, whose mechanical legs had been fused together and him hogtied, fiddling with something in shirt as he was being hauled into the police car.

"Just a present for you mushroom heads." He insulted as he spit an object out of his mouth to the ground before the door was closed and he was driven off.

The titans all looked at the object confusedly. The object was a plain, round, black, ball.

"What is it?" Robin asked Cyborg.

"How am I supposed to know?" Cyborg asked loudly a frown set on his face.

"Because you're Mr. Technical Man." Beastboy said.

"Why don't you pick it up and see what is?" he suggested to Beastboy.

"Uhh...No. Dude that thing was like, in his mouth."

As the two were arguing, Measha had strolled over to the object and was currently hovering over it, staring curiously. As he stared, a hole opened on the top of the object, revealing an eye.

Measha blinked a few times as he cocked his head to the side like a puppy dog in a very, to Raven and me, cute fashion. (Although he is evil, I still love him and he currently has a place in my grotto of Bishonen.) But as the eye looked around it suddenly sprouted legs as began to grow, and grow, and grow, until it towered over the titans.

"Congratulations momma it's a boy." Measha suddenly yelled giving off a fangy grin as he stared up at the eye giant, and making all the titans look at Raven who shrugged and made the sign for crazy with her hands, before flying off to dispose of the monstrosity.

_'Yes, more fun for me.'_ Measha thought as his legs seemed to become inflamed, which entitled him to fly in front the eye giant.

Raising his hands up to form a triangle, the titans could see fire twirling on the inside of it, it took them a minute to figure out what he was about to do, but when they did it was too late to warn Raven.

"Azarath, Metri...ooh crap." Raven said in her monotone voice, face devoid of emotion as she saw the gigantic beam of fire heading straight for her. "This is going to hurt." Was the last thing she said before she was engulfed in flames.

* * *

As Measha finished the eye giant off he began to laugh hysterically in the air. 

"No...Raven." Cyborg said in quiet agony as he fell to his knees in despair.

"Wha, what happened?" Beastboy asked frantically looking around, hoping he would see a dome of black energy with his moody friend still intact.

"Is friend Raven alright?" Starfire asked tearily as she slowly descended form the air.

"I...I don't think so Star." Robin managed to say his throat feeling tight and soar.

"Dude who's going to tell Nate?" Beastboy asked, not trying to be funny.

Finally, the laughter of the fire demon reached Cyborg's ears, and turning angry/sad eyes up at him, he felt his blood start to boil.

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU LAUGHING AT? DON'T YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID? DON'T YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO RAVEN?" he yelled tears falling down his face.

"Oh I know what happened to her alright!" he yelled pointing down towards Robin, never ceasing his laughter.

Looking towards a confused Robin, nobody saw anything out of the ordinary, but as they continued to look, they soon realized that Robin's cape was fanning out awkwardly.

"Robin's what's up with your cape?" Beastboy asked confusedly.

"I don't know." Robin confessed as he began to turn around to investigate only to be stopped as Raven's lightly scorched head appeared from behind him with an extremely annoyed look on her face.

"If you turn around I swear I will snatch your eyes out and put them in a jar so you could see yourself." She threatened with narrowed, efficiently making him turn back around.

"Raven?" Beastboy asked uncertainly.

"Raven!" Cyborg yelled happily, as he began to run towards her.

"DON'T COME ANY CLOSER!" Raven yelled, making him halt in his tracks.

"Why, what's wrong?" he asked confusedly.

"I'm...I'm...naked." she said softly, her face, and the rest of her body, turning a deep red. At hearing this, Robin eyes widened and he suddenly turned rigid.

"Naked?" Beastboy asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, THAT BASTARD BURNT MY CLOTHES OFF ME IN THAT FIRE BEAM! AND IT'S NOT FUNNY, SHUT UP YOU BASTARD!"

"Yes...it...is...funny! Cindernaked!" Measha laughed at her from up above.

"Raven? Could you please morph back to the tower?" Robin asked stiffly as unwanted thoughts fluttered through his head, due to the fact that there was a naked girl standing closely behind him. It wasn't that he didn't want them, which he didn't, but Raven could read minds and he didn't feel like getting hurt.

Blushing harder Raven morphed into the shadows and disappeared.

The remaining titans stood there quietly, not sure as to what to say. Measha on the other hand, continued to laugh so hard he fell to the ground with a sickening thud, making the titans flinch. He wasn't laughing after that.

* * *

Raven landed softly onto the living room floor in a crouched position. 

"Damn, this isn't my room." She said aloud before taking off up the stairs as fast as she could.

Just then, Nate decided to wake up form his nap he had taken. Opening the door to his room, he headed down the hall to meet up with his teammates, but as he was walking, a purple blur passed by him and into Raven's room.

Eyes wide and mind blank, of all except one thing, Nate grinned stupidly before fainting onto the ground in an, I've-just-see-heaven lump.

* * *

**Zee:** Hi Zee here. I just want to say thank you to all my reviewers and sorry that it took so long, but I have serious writers block for some of my stories and I've been so busy with my story on fictionpress...it's just been hectic, but I hope this chapter is up to your enjoyment. 

To my reviewers:

Littlemisschaos: Thank you, I'm glad you think its funny, and yes, we have to love the Natemeister.

Shannon-of-tameran: Why does everybody call me crazy! Why! (Runs off crying into the Bishonen grotto)

Faith: Glad you think it awesome

Lanien: Of course, I'm going to continue (as soon as writers block leaves and Frank come back to me). And I know how you feel with all the angst in fics. Sometime its okay but people need to live avida-loca.

Darklysp0keN: Great to have your input.

Ravenrules99: Was this faster, I'm not sure, I can't remember, but I hope this brings up your mood.

KuteVirgo: Here you go, more, more, more. Glad you LOVE my fic so much. Because I love the reviews.

Jncera: thanks for the review, and it makes me laugh too as things just pop in my head randomly.

**Zee**: okay now, I'm about to depart back to the other fics, but before I go I just need to say that I placed an ad in my bio for an editor, since I don't really check for editing mistakes. Well anyway, all the info is in the Bio. You can't miss it. This is BrieZee signing out.


	4. Chp 4 I Dream of Raven

* * *

**Chp. 4 I Dream of Raven**

* * *

"Is she in there?" a voice from the stairwell asked.

"I don't know, I haven't looked yet" a second voice said with slight irritation.

"Well look already." A third voice demanded. Soon after the sound of a shuffle could be heard.

"Beastboy would you quit pushing me?" the second voice said angrily.

"Sorry dude, but Cyborg pushed me." Beastboy apologized.

"What are you guys doing?" a fourth voice asked in a drone manner.

"We're trying to see if Raven's down there," a fifth voice answered.

"Well...I'm not," the fourth voice said dully.

"Oh, hi Raven." the first voice said casually, and then they all (excluding the fourth voice) yelled, "RAVEN!"

A crashing sound was heard as four bodies came sprawling from the stairwell. A few seconds later Raven herself came waltzing down the step to stand in front of the mass of boys. The pile consisted of Robin, Beastboy, Cyborg, and Naten.

"Hey, Rae. How you feeling today?" Cyborg asked nervously as they all detangled themselves and stood up.

"If by 'am I feeling well' you mean are there any emotions taking control at the moment, then no. I'm perfectly fine."

"Well that's good to know. Now, how bout some breakfast, I'm cooking." Nate announced happily clapping his hands together.

"Great, I've been feeling exceptionally hungry this morning." Raven said as she and the rest made their way to the living room to wait for breakfast.

* * *

Raven sat beside Cyborg and Beastboy and watched aimlessly as they tried to kill each other on their new video game.

"Hey Raven where's Measha?" Robin asked suddenly.

"I hurt him and now he's recuperating," she said with a secretive smile on her face.

"Oh." Robin said simply, the only word he could think of to say.

"Breakfast is ready!" Naten yelled from the kitchen.

"Oh yeah! Chow time!" Cyborg yelled about to run to the kitchen but stopped stiff as a lithe hand rested itself on his thigh as Raven used it for leverage to get up, but that wasn't the only thing that made him freeze up, what made him freeze was the fact that her hands sort of roamed. But as he looked at her face and saw that same monotone expression, he brushed it off as an accident, but he was still a bit shaken up.

"What are we having?" Robin asked as they saw a very displeased looking Starfire pouting at the table.

"Pancake platter combo." Nate answered placing the food on the table.

"What's wrong with her?" Beastboy asked as everyone took their places at the table.

"I kicked her out the Kitchen, but I know what'll make her cheer up..."

"Nothing you do shall make me cheerier for I am mad at you, you..." Starfire began.

"...Pancakes smothered in mustard and butter." Nate finished placing the plate of horror in front of her.

"...you marvelous Garitzaflorp." She exclaimed happily before devouring her food.

"I'm going to take that as a compliment." he said unsurely before hopping over to his seat next to Raven, only to jump right out of it as something grabbed his behind.

"Oh, sorry, I had my hand resting there." Raven apologized positioning her arm into her lap.

"Raven?" Cyborg asked loudly dropping his utensils.

"Yes?" Raven asked curiously, looking up innocently at him, and that was when she gave herself away.

"Okay now I know something's wrong. Raven, where's Meashale?" Robin asked as everyone stopped their eating to help.

"Like I said, he's recuperating," she said smiling broadly.

"That's creepy Rae. Stop smiling like that." Beastboy said as he shuddered.

"You!" someone yelled angrily from the staircase.

Turning around everyone were surprised to see a very downtrodden looking Measha glaring hatefully at Raven.

"What the hell happened to you?" Nate asked with a pleased grin on his face.

"She..._she_...she beat me into a coma while I was sleep." Measha hissed angrily.

"She did that to stop you from stopping her, one of her emotions has taken over and it's freaking us out." Robin told him in a business like manner.

"Really, what has she been doing?"

"She's been groping people." Cyborg cried out loudly.

"Come to think of it, I did feel a bit molested while in that coma."

"I DID NOT MOLEST YOU...much." Raven yelled feeling insulted.

"So what do we have here, groping and molestation...oh shit!"

"What...which emotion is it?" Beastboy asked in an urgently curious voice.

"We've got desire on our hands kids." Measha announced, causing everyone close by to jump away from Raven, who pouted.

"Spoil sport." Raven grumbled crossing her arms and legs.

* * *

"Okay now fellows." Measha said as he walked back into the living room. "Raven is tied to a chair in her room, and Starfire will be attending to her while we stay as far away as possible."

"What can we do to help her?" Cyborg asked. "Do we need to douse her with cold water or make her watch TV or something?"

"It's not that simple. You see, desire is one of the most dangerous emotions to control. You see with this emotion comes lust, love, and desire. The only way for her to overcome this is..." here he trailed off.

"What?" Nate demanded angrily.

"Either someone goes up there and give her the romp of her life to get it out of her system or we wait it out, but that's dangerous to do. For if we wait, that desire is going to get stronger and bigger before it wears off. If we wait to long and she somehow gets loose before it's gone, then...well...someone's getting their salad tossed. I'm talking about brutal sex. Forced or not."

All was silent.

"Well go ahead dude, she's your mate." Beastboy said to Measha, a little on the shaken up side.

"Like hell I'm going up there. Do you know what she'll do to me? Her desire is especially strong for me, considering our connection and all. If I go up there, I might never return. So, I'll pass."

"Well you heard the man. Go ahead Robin. You're the leader; it's your responsibility to help a teammate in need." Cyborg pointed out as all turned to face Robin.

"Uhhh...I think I hear batman calling." he lied before taking off.

"Coward!" Cyborg yelled after him.

"Well Nate, you've always wanted...Nate? Nate!" Beastboy called out, but Naten was nowhere to be seen.

"Go ahead Cyborg; you're 3rd in command if Robin and Raven are unable to do their duties." Measha said with a smile now facing the robotic boy.

"I can't do that! Raven's like a sister to me." Cyborg exclaimed.

"Hey Cyborg, can you even..." Beastboy began.

"Mind your business."

"Beastboy. You're the only one left. So it's up to you now." Measha said smiling broadly.

"...So we're going to wait it out, huh?" Beastboy said after a while.

"I thought so." Measha said more to himself than Beastboy.

"So if we're going to wait it out, do you think it's ok to have Starfire attend to her the whole time?" Nate asked as he and Robin came back.

"Where did you two go?" Beastboy asked loudly.

"Around the corner." They both said in unison.

"So, like I said, do you think it's secure with only Starfire up there?"

"Yeah, man, I don't mean to sound mean or anything, but it's Starfire .vs. Raven...smart Raven...a lusting Raven...against a girl who thinks mustard goes on everything...a girl who would eat the chocolate covered pretzels the smiling guy in the mall gives her. **(Cookies and a secret prize to the first person who gets that last one. Here's a clue 'Silent Bob')** Do you think it's safe?" Beastboy explained.

Measha went over this in his mind, and then bolted up the stairs, soon followed by the rest.

"You are quite welcome friend Raven, I was glad to help." Starfire said into Raven's room as she left out, ropes bundled in her arms.

Without a word to Starfire, Measha leapt into the room, the door closing behind him.

"What is wrong?" Starfire asked confusedly to the rest

"Star...did you, uh...untie Raven?" Nate asked her, just as the sounds of a struggle could be heard from within the closed door. It was the mix sound of things being thrown, yells, screams, and the occasional animalistic growl.

"Of course!" she exclaimed happily, seemingly unperturbed by the sounds, as of everyone else who were being scared shitless. "She was uncomfortable and I, being a true friend, untied her, but she promised to remain in her room."

"NO! STOP! GET BACK!" a demonic sound sounded from within the room, and no one could tell if it was Raven or Measha. Then there was silence.

"Friend Raven lied to me didn't she?" Starfire stated more than asked in a quiet voice.

The others said nothing but just nodded.

The door slid open and they all jumped, but it was just Measha coming through, and he looked hazardous. His hair was messed, he had no shirt, his pants were gone, his boxers were ripped, and he had a black eye and cuts and bruises all over. Behind him, a fuming Raven could be seen tied to a chair by ropes made of fire.

"I've heard of beaten the pants off someone, but never actually seen it done." Beastboy said suddenly trying not to laugh.

"She came out of nowhere. It was a sneak attack: but I conquered! But those binds won't hold long, so you need to get that settled, and once she's secured, we are going to have to keep her on a constant watch. So, no locking her up alone. She's with us at all times." Measha announced turning around to look at Raven.

In the room, Raven could be seen fighting the binds with a vicious look upon her face.

"And since I just wrestled the beast, who's going to bring her down stairs?" turning around to face the others, he was met by an empty corridor.

"Why those dirty sons-of-bit..."

* * *

It was an awkward silence that afternoon.

Robin had run away to train, Starfire was concocting in the kitchen, Measha was asleep in a very awkward position on an armchair, Nate sat in the other chair looking bored, Cyborg and Beastboy sat on the couch play video games, and all were trying to relax. But it was kind of hard with Raven sitting right next to them, strapped down securely by Mad Modd's old binds.

_'Must not look at her. Must not look at her.'_ Beastboy, who was the closest to her, chanted in his mind as he tried to concentrate on the game.

_'But those binds do look uncomfortable.' _

_'No, bad Beastboy. Must ignore voice in head._'

_'But she's one of your best friends, how can you let her suffer.' _

_'I would, but she'll probably jump me if I get any closer.' _

_'What are you talking about? You know Raven has more control over herself than that. Besides, she only groped Nate, Cyborg, and Measha. And Measha doesn't count.' _

_'Well, maybe I can loosen the binds just a bit.' _

Raven watched gleefully as Beastboy began to reach for the control for her binds. A little mind suggestions could go a long way. But just as he was about to turn it down, something fell between them and hit Beastboy.

"You are an idiot." Measha said, slapping Beastboy on the back of his head, before turning towards her. "And you, you better stay out of other people's minds or else I'll fry your sensors," he threatened holding up a fireball big enough to go into her ears

"Fine, but I'll get loose. It might not be today, and it might not be tomorrow, but I'll get free, and you're going down last, so to build up the fear."

Measha suddenly didn't feel well.

"Dude, what just happened?" Beastboy asked groggily rubbing his head.

"You almost let it loose." Measha answered as he sidled away from Raven as she gave him dirty looks.

"I am not an _it_." Raven growled in a dangerous low voice as shadows covered her eyes.

* * *

Not willing to let anyone stay alone with her, the titans and Measha all sat together at the table eating their pizza dinner. Raven still sat in her spot in the living room.

She had been quiet and brooding ever since she threatened Measha and that had been three and a half days ago. Now she was asleep and the others had begun to relax, a little.

"So it's been almost four days...is she going to get over it anytime soon?" Robin asked.

"Judging by how quiet she's been and how much time has passed I would say...I don't know, hand me a slice." Measha answered boredly grabbing himself another piece of pizza.

Glaring softly at Measha, Robin sighed as he turned towards his demonic friend wishing he could do more for her, but there wasn't...so, oh well.

Resuming dinner, no on acknowledged the person sitting next to them as they all became lost in there own thoughts, or better yet, Raven's.

After putting them into a dazed like state, that made everything oblivious to them, Raven sat up in the chair and smiled calmly.

Tapping into her hated demon strength, she added her own powers into it and broke free of her bonds.

Standing up she stretched and rubbed her wrists as she stared at her teammates and Measha. Going over to the table, she circled it, while running her hands over the boy's backs and heads and whispering things in their ears. Whether their names or suggestions.

Finally, she stopped behind Measha and her smile disappeared. "Threaten me, will you, you just wait." She whispered harshly into his ear and pulling his hair. And with the last of her message whispered, she morphed into the shadows, ready to wreak havoc around every corner.

And a few minutes later, everyone came out of their stupors.

"Ow, my hair hurts." Measha said as he rubbed his head.

"What did you say Star?" Robin asked turning towards Starfire.

"I did not say anything, you must be mistaking." Starfire told him.

"But I heard someone say my name." he insisted scratching his head.

"Dude, so did I." Beastboy said all of a sudden.

"No one called my name, they said something else." Cyborg announced in an uncommonly quiet voice.

"What did the strange voice say to you friend Cyborg?" Starfire asked innocently.

"What about you Nate?" Cyborg asked quickly, changing the subject.

"Does anyone else feel all tingly, like someone just touched you?" Nate asked as he got the shivers. The others all nodded in agreement, all except Starfire who sat there confusedly.

"Aw, Awwww!" Measha suddenly yelled making everyone turn towards him only to see him looking at Raven's chair...Raven's empty chair.

"Uhhh...well that's not good." Beastboy said into the silence that was now the dinner table.

* * *

"Raven. R-R-Raven!" Beastboy called as he traveled alone down the hall, searching for his missing friend.

After regrouping themselves, they all split up to search for Raven. So this is how Beastboy found himself traveling down poorly lit halls, alone, searching for his scary, demon friend.

"Any luck yet BB?" Cyborg's voice asked through the communicator.

"No. no sight of her yet. Maybe we should all, you know, get back into a group and wait til she comes to us."

"No, it'll be faster if we're not together and searching separately." Robin's voice said this time.

"Yeah, you heard the man BB. Just keep looking." Cyborg's voice said.

"And oh, green dude, is she finds _you_, just scream loud enough so _we_ can get there faster." Measha's voice said mockingly through the communicator.

"Dude that's not funny. Who gave you a..." but whatever Beastboy was going to say never made it, for the next thing who knew was that his communicator was gone. Turning around, ready to run he jumped back in fright as he found Raven's head merely inches from his. And not only was she creepily close, but she was upside down, standing on the ceiling.

"Hello Beastboy." She said seductively as she jumped from the ceiling, twirled in mid-air, and landed on her feet.

"RAVEN!" Beastboy squeaked as he began to walk away from her.

"Well now, I haven't even touched you and you're already screaming my name." she laughed watching him try to get away with amusement.

"No, I don't think you want to do anything to me. Remember Raven, it's me, Beastboy. Remember we hate Beastboy, we..."

"Talk is cheap." Raven interrupted as she was suddenly in his face making him jump back in fright. But before he could get too far, she had grabbed him by the collar and had hoisted him into the air where she smothered his scream with her mouth.

Without breaking the kiss, she rammed him against the wall, where the shadows began to creep in on them. Beastboy, seeing this, began to scream against her mouth.

"Raven! Drop the Beastboy and tell your creepy portal to back off."

Breaking off with Beastboy, Raven turned a cold, calculating look towards the voice. Dropping Beastboy to the ground like he was nothing, she and the shadows back away from him. Finally free, Beastboy jumped up and hid behind Cyborg with a frightened squeak.

"Come on Raven, we just want to help you." Robin said, as he, Cyborg, and Measha began to creep forward.

Raven just stared at them with a passive look, but soon took her shadow form as a fireball came whirling towards her head.

"What'd you do that for?" Cyborg yelled angrily.

"I was trying to put her into a coma!" Measha yelled back just as angrily.

"Um...Beastboy, are you alright?" Robin asked Beastboy, in a concern voice, who was currently rocking back and forth on the ground.

"My life flashed before my eyes," he muttered aloud as he continued to rock.

* * *

The rest of that day and the next were filled with nervous, jittery boys, and one very confused Starfire. During that time, each guy had been assaulted at least twice, or seven in Beastboy's case, he was now a pile of rambling green fur. It had gotten so, that they had to sleep in shifts, Starfire more than anyone.

So far, they had been attacked in their bedrooms, the halls, and the bathroom, which left Robin feeling a bit peculiar after the shower incident.

Again, Beastboy found himself alone in the poorly lit halls. It was his turn to keep watch and he was a nervous wreck.

"Beastboy." A voice whispered down the halls.

"R-R-Raven? Is that you? _Again_?" he stammered ready to run and scream for help.

"Beastboy." The voice whispered again only closer this time.

"C-Come on Rae. Why do you keep messing with me? Why don't you go attack Robin or something?"

"Beastboy!" the voice said loud, right behind him as he felt a hand clasped his shoulder. Turning around and screaming, he growled only to see Measha laughing at him.

"Dude! So not funny!" he yelled angrily at the laughing Measha.

"Yes it was. 'C-Come on Rae. Why do you keep messing with me? Why don't you go attack Robin or something?' Real brave of you." He mocked.

"Well, you would be like this if you've been attacked seven times."

"I thought it was eight."

"I don't count that last one."

Measha stared at him for a second before turning on his heel, laughing scornfully the whole time. Beastboy stared after him with narrowed eyes, but those soon turned wide with fright, as he saw Raven emerge from her shadowy keep. Staring at him, she held up a finger for him to be quiet before sneaking off after Measha. About to open his mouth to warn the fire demon, Beastboy had second thoughts, and decided just to watch.

Hearing a growl behind him, the laughing Measha turned around only to get attacked by a vicious looking Raven.

"OH, NO!" he yelled before he and Raven disappeared into her shadowy depths. And although neither were visible. Measha's screams could be heard throughout the tower.

"I didn't see anything." Beastboy muttered to himself as he began to walk away form the scene.

* * *

"Well, I feel strangely happy." Nate smiled as he entered his room, from seeing Measha in intensive care in the infirmary.

Not bothering to turn on the lights, which was a good thing considered it was full of pictures of Raven; he began to get ready for bed. Although it was dark, his blue hair and lime green eyes, shone brightly, giving his skin an unnatural glow. Stripping off his shirt and pants, he dive-bombed into his bed.

"Goodnight Raven." He said, talking to his numerous pictures.

"Oh, it'll be goodnight alright." they answered back as a lithe hand ran down his chest.

"Ahh, Raven!" he yelled springing up in bed. Turning to look at her, he gasped as he found her, not only on his bed, but under the covers also. "What are you doing here?"

"I thought that was obvious, we're going to have a goodnight, remember?" she laughed as she pushed him onto his back and straddled his legs.

"I d-don't t-think this is a g-good ideAHH!" he stammered only to end it with a shriek as Raven's nails scratched his chest as she ran her hands down it, feeling every inch of him.

"I do." She said with a smile. "Well aren't you just a big boy?"

"Raven I..." he began only to have his sentenced cutoff as Raven covered his mouth with hers. His eyes widened shortly, before he closed them in pleasure.

Feeling him relax, Raven smiled against his mouth and detached her cloak. Soon after, Nate wrapped his strong arms around her and switched places with her, now on top he began to kiss her even more enthusiastically, as Raven tangled her hands into his hair and wrapped her legs around his waist. As the two became entangled in each other, feral growls began to escape both of their throats, neither seemed to notice or care.

Time was soon lost track of, so neither knew when Nate seemed to snap back into reality. '_This isn't right.'_ he thought.

"No, wait. We have to stop." He said, dislodging himself away from Raven, who growled in protest.

"Why?" she asked angrily sitting next to him. "I thought this is what you wanted."

"It is, but...not this way." he answered her quietly swinging his legs over the side of the bed, trying to keep himself at bay.

"...why not? I'm ready and willing. This is what I thought you wanted." She said after a pause, leaning in to kiss him.

"It is. God, you don't know how much I want to. But that's just it. You want it to. You're not in your right mind. Like I told you before. I love you, I'm willing to _wait_, until you really, and I mean really want to. Even if it takes years. That's just how much I love you. I am willing to sacrifice this once in a lifetime chance, just to have your respect when you get back to normal. I love you Raven."

Raven stared at him with a searching look as she seemed to come out of a trance, but just as it seemed like she was normal again, an angry expression crossed her face and she slapped him, leaving four marks on his face, before disappearing into the shadows.

"I love you." He repeated to the darkness, ignoring the pain on his cheeks.

* * *

The next day, everyone awoke (except Measha who was still in intensive care) to find the old, normal Raven at the table drinking tea. No one spoke to her, except Starfire, and she didn't even bother to look them in the eye.

Naten was the last to wake, and as he opened his door to leave to the kitchen, he jumped back to find Raven standing at his door.

"Can I have word with you?" she asked, not bothering for an answer as she walked into his room and standing by his dresser.

"Um, what can I do you for?" he asked. Coming to stand by her.

"I just want to say thank you."

"Thank you?" he asked confusedly.

"For not, taking advantage of me last night." She said turning her head away. "That was real...gentlemen like of you."

"Um...no problem."

"Kind of creepy in here." She commented looking at all the pictures of herself.

"Yeah, and this ones my favorite." He told her picking up a picture of her wrapped in a towel as she just got out of the shower.

"Really, I wonder why. And here are my favorites." She smiled, picking up a picture frame with four pictures in it. One of her when she realized he had taken the picture, another of her eyes glowing white and screaming, the third of Cyborg running down the hall like an enraged bull once he realized what Nate had done, then the last of Nate unconscious.

"Yeah, yeah. He clearly overreacted. Hey, the other day and stuff, why did you come after Beastboy so much?" Nate suddenly asked as he remembered with a frown.

"Because he was the easiest to attack and scare witless."

Turning her head back towards him, she saw the marks she had left on his cheek and grimaced with guilt. "Here, let me take care of that." She said softly as she reached her hand out and cupped his cheek, where she began to heal it.

"Thanks." He said smiling goofily.

"Welcome." She said giving him a small peck on his healed cheek.

"What was that for?" he asked in a shock.

"For being a gentleman." She told him giving him another on the lips. "And that's for what you said." She said, as she bean to leave.

"So does this mean you love me now?" he called after her, once getting over his shock.

"No." she answered simply.

"So what does it mean?"

"My respect for you is a lot higher now." She said as the door opened.

"So, you like me more now?"

"I didn't say that."

"So, are you thinking about going out with me now?"

"Didn't say that either." She said looking back at him with a small smile.

"So now that you're back in your right mind, and you like me more, why don't I take you up on that offer from last night?"

"You should've stopped while you were ahead." She said as she door closed behind her.

"Oh yeah, she wants me." Nate said to his numerous pictures.

* * *

**BrieZee**: Hello everybody, long time no update. Anyway, this is a quick A/N. Thanks for the reviews and I would just like to clear some questions up. About what Nate is and where he was sending the cloaks will be revealed later. And I had no idea Meashale was so popular. Yes he's my hot little, evil demon, but...nevermind. Anyway, if he is so popular I might have to write a fic with him and Raven as the main characters. Review and tell me what you think.

**BrieZee**: Anyway, IMPORTANT A/N in BIO. MUST READ.


	5. Chp 5 A Bird of Prey

**Chp. 5 A Bird of Prey

* * *

**

Time went by and Raven's emotions quieted down from scary to annoying. Example, happy Raven, apart from being creepy, it was like having two Starfire's, and the two were inseparable. Sad Raven was depressing and useless, which only made her sadder, she moped around worse than normal Raven and she was too timid for missions. During this time, Measha came out of intensive care, and she and Naten had gotten closer, much to the annoyance/jealousy/rage of Measha. But he kept himself in as good as a mood as possible; Raven's birthday was in two days.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Beastboy yelled at breakfast at Meashale, as he pulled out a slab of meat the size of a table."How did that even fit in the fridge." he added as an after thought.

"Fixing my breakfast." Measha replied calmly although he flinched as the loud noise reached his sensitive ears.

"But...IT'S HUGE! HOW CAN YOU EAT THAT! That poor animal! YOU'RE EVEN WORSE THAN CYBORG!"

"So I see you enjoy the fine tastes of meat too, CY man!" Measha said with a wicked grin, as he seasoned the meat.

"Yes in deedy, feed the needy! You gonna give me a slab of that when you're done? Come on, from one meat lover to another." Cyborg asked eyeing the piece of meat like...it was a piece of meat. Robin, Starfire, and Naten just watched in silence as they ate _their_ breakfast.

"I would, but...you wouldn't want any." Measha said with his wicked grin, before cupping his mouth and breathing over the meat.

"There, it's ready!" Measha said loudly with a happy smile as he brought the slightly smoking carcass to the breakfast table.

"Dude, I think you need to cook it more, it's still raw...you only warmed it." Cyborg said as he eyed the bleeding meat with disdain, Beastboy was blowing steam out of his ears he was so mad.

"I know. Reminds me of carved meat, off the freshly killed animal, that stills festers in the field, with a large chunk of its flesh ripped out and its blood staining the plush green grass its body was slain upon. Just right before the flies attack and before the vultures come to rip into the dead flesh. I'm talking about so fresh that the heart still contains blood, just before the last air is deflated from the exposed pink lungs, and just before the eyes sink into the skull..." at the end of his speech, Measha held a hungry gaze in his eyes as his mouth began to water. Everyone else was looking sick, and Beastboy had passed out.

"I think...I'm going to...become a vegetarian." Cyborg heaved, as he held his stomach.

"You're sick." Nate mumbled with a sneer on his, slightly green, face.

"Yeah I am huh, well it's my day of cravings, and would it be kosher to go and collect human flesh and eat it privately. Delicious and fun yes, kosher... I think not. Now, bon appetite." And without a moment's hesitation, Measha dropped his fork and knife and began to tear into the meat like the demon he was. Eyes glowing red, fangs sharp and protruding, predator facial expression, and animalistic growling for all to hear.

It was like watching a horror movie in real life, or surgery, whichever was on first, no matter how much you wanted to look away or how much you wanted to change the channel, you couldn't help but watch in horror. Beastboy, who had regained consciousness, passed out again as soon as he saw the massacre in front of him. Cyborg, Robin, Starfire, and Nate only stared in horror, for that was all they could muster.

"Well, I'm done." Nate announced as he stood up and left the kitchen.

Just as he got up and began to walk away, Measha finished his meat, snarled, jumped onto the table and growled. "YOU DONE WITH YOUR BREAKFAST?" he snarled in his demonic voice, addressing the remaining titans.

Without a word, Robin and Starfire pushed their plates to him with nauseous expressions; he had to snatch Cyborg's.

"Hey!" Cyborg yelled standing up as his meat platter breakfast was taken away, but quieted as Measha's snarling, ugly, demonic face turned towards him. "Um...thought you might want something to drink."

Turning back towards the food, Measha's foot shot out and grabbed Cyborg's glass of milk, before bringing it to his mouth to dink.

"Wow, that's...that's one talented foot." He commented as he watched the demon boy began to shovel meat into his mouth using both hands and the one-foot, using the other to crouch upon.

"Robin, I am frightened." Starfire said in a quaking voice.

"It's okay Star, let's just get up, and walk away slowly and quietly." Robin told her, not sounding too hot himself, as the remaining three began to creep away, his hands on Starfire's shoulder for support, and Cyborg making sure to drag Beastboy away before he too was eaten.

* * *

"Oh what's the big deal? Not like you haven't seen Raven do it before, she's part demon too you know!" Measha yelled at the others as they sat apart from him in the living room. 

"But Raven doesn't do that." Starfire said, not looking him in the eye as he sucked the meat juice, mostly blood, from his fingers.

"Oh yes she does, she's just not as subtle as me."

"We've never seen her do it before." Cyborg argued.

"That's because I do it in private, not where everyone can see me, which is what you're suppose to do." Measha heard Raven say from the stairwell.

"But it's more fun to..." turning around to face her, Meashale's jaw dropped as they all got a good look at her.

Same person, hair was the same, but posture, attire, and attitude was completely different. On her feet, she wore a pair of thin, strapped, high-heeled, dress sandals. She wore a short, firm fitting, black, sleeveless dress. The collar looking mysteriously like Starfire's. On her face, she wore make up and her nails were polished.

"Well hello there Sexy!" Measha yelled, and subconsciously punching Nate in the head just as he was about to run towards her, as he jumped off the couch and launched himself into the air at Raven.

"Hold it right there Mr. Stinky Fingers." Raven called out using her powers to stop Meashale inches from her person, him with his arms outstretched to grab her and mouth wide open. "You are not going to get your putrid fingers or your rancid mouth, anywhere near me or my new dress. I just got out of the shower." and with that said, she flipped her hand in the air and sent Meashale sailing into the wall.

"Wow Raven...you look...wow." Cyborg complimented at a loss for words, while Beastboy briefly morphed into a wolf and howled loudly. Robin was going to compliment her, but a look from Starfire stopped that right quit and so he had to make do with wide-eyed staring.

"I do, don't I?" Raven replied vainly striking a pose. "I had to make a drastic change of wardrobe. I mean you can't wear the same thing every day or else you'll wear it out of fashion. But I haven't anything in my room that is in, so I had to make do with some rags I found in Starfire's closet. But she's way bigger than me so I had to make a few alterations. And I do say it looks way better on me. No offense Star, but I rock this out. I tried on your, go go boots, but your feet are way too big for me to wear them, but luckily I found these at the bottom of Beastboy's closet." At the end of Raven's explanation, eyes went wide, first staring from the primping Raven, to the fuming Starfire, to the highly embarrassed Beastboy, and finally to Measha who just seemingly popped back up in the living room.

"Ah, vanity, the next emotion. The one that makes a vain Raven, a posh Raven, a snobbish Raven, an aristocratic Raven, all meaning bitchy Raven." Measha informed everyone in a professor type voice. "Do my hands stink to you?" he asked sincerely, shoving his fingers under Cyborg's nose.

"Who are you calling vain, you little pack rat. Don't hate me because _I'm_ beautiful." Raven snapped as she flipped her hair over her shoulder, before making her way over to the kitchen counter to read a magazine.

"Like I said, makes her a bitch. But, and there's always a _but_, Raven's vanity is like crack. It's addicting, although you might want to strangle her neck until it pops, you just can't help but be drawn to it. I mean come on, she's so damn _sexy_. Mainly what I'm saying it's the opposite of desire, instead of her coming after us, we're going to be coming after her."

"Really, I don't exactly feel anything different for Raven." Beastboy said as the other guys nodded in agreement.

"Can someone fix my tea?" Raven called from the kitchen. After, there was a moment's pause as her words registered with them. Then chaos broke free. Nate, Cyborg, Measha, and Beastboy were jumping over furniture, over each other, pushing, shoving and fighting to be the one to fix Raven's tea. Robin had started but Starfire yanked him back down with a growl. Robin could only watch sadly, as Beastboy beat everyone there by flying overhead as a bird.

Feeling dejected the other boys trudged back into the living as Beastboy gloatingly handed Raven her tea, all except Nate who sat himself down in front of Raven breathing heavily, and it wasn't from the running he had just done.

But soon there was someone at the door. "Someone answer the door," was all Raven had to say for them to be off and running once again. Except Nate who still was breathing heavily and staring at Raven like a piece of meat. Robin still was stopped by an angry Starfire.

"Did someone order fish takeout?" Measha yelled from down the door as he and Cyborg escorted Aqualad into the room.

"Aqualad," Robin greeted with a handshake, his turn to keep Starfire away from someone as she began to float lovingly towards the aquatic teen.

"You smell like fish." Measha stated as he circled Aqualad, sniffing him as he went.

"Dude, what's up? How come the visit all of a sudden?" Beastboy asked loudly, slapping him on the back in a friendly gesture.

"Don't worry about him," Cyborg assured him, gesturing towards Measha who was eyeing Aqualad's arm. "That's Raven's umm...friend. He won't bite."

"Like hell I won't. It's my day of craving and fishboy just walked in for lunch." Measha growled, grabbing Aqualad's arm. Only to clank his teeth together as Aqualad snatched his arm back.

"Umm, yeah...well I thought I could just come over and visit today...but now, I think I'll just go back home." Aqualad said after giving Measha a nervous look and turning on his heel to leave.

"He's only playing." Cyborg explained, throwing an arm around Aqualad's shoulder and leading him further into the living room when he got his first look at Raven he halted in his tracks.

"Oh wow!" he breathed aloud staring openly at Raven. The others, knowing what was going to happen, slowly began to back away.

"Wow! Wha, what is you looking...what Wow!" Measha stuttered angrily, coming up to Aqualad with fire in his eyes. But Aqualad barely acknowledged him, as Raven, _inconspicuously_, slightly turned his way and slowly uncrossed then re-crossed her legs.

"Wow!"

"There goes that wow again. You know...if you. Go ahead, say it one more. I dare you...no, I _want_ you to. Just say it again, and see what happens." Measha threatened as a fireball emerged in his hand.

"Aqualad? What are you doing here?" Raven suddenly asked, feigning surprise.

"Yeah, Aqualad, what the hell you doing here?" Measha asked giving Aqualad a look of pure hatred at hearing the way Raven's voice held a slight flirt to its edges.

Naten, also hearing the flirt in Raven's voice, slowly lifted his head to stare at Aqualad with a crazy look.

"Do you know what's it like to kill a man? I do." Measha said loud enough for only Aqualad could hear.

"I...I just came over for a visit and maybe thinking we all could spend the day together doing something."

"That's sounds like a great idea." Raven agreed cheerfully, causing Nate and Measha's heads to snap towards her before looking back to Aqualad with looks of pure hatred.

"Where did you want to go?" Raven asked strolling towards a beaming Aqualad, Nate close on her heel.

"To hell in a hand basket if you don't stop looking at her." Nate threatened from behind her making threatening gestures.

"Um...anywhere really, I...I haven't really thought about it."

"Well you might think of it on our way to town." She offered as she interlocked their arms and began to lead him out.

It wasn't until the two were out of sight did Nate and Measha finally snap. Nate's body tensed up, his eyes bled white fire, his hair turned into a darker blue, and a sudden wind blew rapidly around him.

Measha got into a fighting stance with his hands balled into fist, his eyes began to glow and angry orange, his hair suddenly caught fire, and spouts of fire shot out from his body and across the floor, leaving scorch marks in their paths.

"I'll kill him!" Nate yelled angrily.

"I'm going to cook him and eat him!" Measha growled demonically.

"Seems like we have a common goal today." Nate stated.

"Seems like you're right for once princey."

"So do we have a truce until that pretty boy is either dead or gone?" Nate asked as he held out his hand.

"Truce. For now." And after a quick handshake, the two temporary allies were off to follow Raven and Aqualad. A few minutes after their departure the closest door slowly creaked open and the remaining titans stumbled out.

"Should we follow them?" Starfire asked timidly.

"Yeah, maybe we should. Those two might kill Aqualad." Beastboy asked with a bit of concern.

"Besides, this is going to be oubre entertaining." Cyborg added with a huge smile of anticipation.

"Alright we'll follow, but there's no way we're getting involved with this soap opera from hell." Robin finally agreed with a shake of his head.

* * *

"No, shirt, no shoes, NO SERVICE!" the waiter/bouncer yelled as he bodily threw Measha and Nate out onto the street. 

Following Raven and Aqualad around like extra shadows, they had unknowingly followed the two into a fancy restaurant where they were to have lunch. Missing the sign that clearly read, no shirt, no shoes, no service. And Measha had on no shoes, they both looked rough, and so they were thrown out the door.

"Do you know who I am? I will eat your heart mortal!" Measha yelled springing up and growling at the waiter.

"Not here you won't! Be gone!" and with that he slammed the door in their faces.

"I don't think he bought it." Nate said simply as he stood up and brushed himself off.

"Bought what? Princey what are you saying?"

"The 'I will eat your heart mortal' line, I don't think he bought it. And where'd you get that from anyway, ripping off Little Nicky?"

"What line? I was serious."

"...you're a strange, twisted little man." Nate said after a pause.

"Stop you blabbering, princey, I have an idea." Measha said with a wicked smile as his became ablaze allowing him to fly off through the air.

"STOP CALLING ME THAT!" Naten yelled after him as a strong wind began to circle him before lifting him into the air and after Measha.

* * *

Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, and Beastboy sat in a little booth at the front of the restaurant, eating lunch. A few tables away from them sat Raven and Aqualad. 

"These roll, Rock!" Beastboy yelled joyfully as he guzzled roll after roll.

"They're meant to be eaten with your soup." Cyborg told him, after getting sick of watching rolls disappear so fast.

"Oh that's right. Thanks Cy man!" Beastboy thanked him through a mouth full of bread, before taking his soup bowl and pouring it contents into his open mouth.

Rolling his eyes in disgust, Cyborg froze in shock as his eyes landed on the doors. Not taking his eyes off the door, he reached out with his hand, grabbed Robin by the front of his shirt, and pulled him to him.

"What's the big deal?" Robin yelled angrily only to become silent as Cyborg pointed to the doors. Once he caught sight of what had drawn Cyborg's attention, his jaw dropped in disbelief.

By now, Starfire and Beastboy's attention had been drawn to the doors too and they looked on in disbelief.

Slowly, as he tried to register what he was seeing, Beastboy asked the question that on everyone's mind, only in a slightly more colorful wording.

"What the fu...?"

* * *

Measha walked into the restaurant with an air of nobility. His hair had been combed, somewhat, and put into a slightly sophisticated ponytail. He wore a black suit, with a white shirt, shiny black shoes, and a black leather jacket, which was way too small. He felt so regal, he had cleaned out his ears and washed his hands, he felt so proud of himself. Although he felt this way, he didn't look it. He looked like someone had thrown clothes onto a cave man. Nothing on his was straight. His ponytail didn't hold all his hair, his button up white shirt was buttoned all wrong and his pants were twisted. And most of the clothes were too small. 

"Will you come on already?" Meashale growled in annoyance as he realized that Nate had not followed him in.

"I'm not coming, I look ridiculous." Nate growled from outside.

"Oh don't be stupid. You look..._aiight_."

"I don't give a damn, I'm not coming."

"Suit yourself, I'll just have to kill fishboy and have Raven all to myself and take all the credit."

"...Damnit, alright, I'm coming." A few seconds passed until finally a very disgruntled looking Nate entered the restaurant.

Nate's hair had been combed and sprinkled with glitter, then put into a messy bun, with two strips framing his face on either side. His face had been caked with makeup and bright red lipstick. The dress he wore was a red spaghetti strap dress that stopped just above his knees. And on his feet, he wore a pair of black high heels. But it doesn't stop there. His exposed legs were too muscled for a woman and were extremely hairy. The dress's neckline, with no breast to hold it, fell way below his chest, and his feet oozed over the rim of the shoes from having his feet crammed into the way too small shoes, and on his shoulder, looking even more out of place, was a red Gucci purse.

"I seriously hate you right now."

"Suck it up. _Whiner_." The latter he muttered to himself.

"Can I be of any assistant...uh...sir?" a snobby looking man asked with a fake French accent.

"No thanks consi...conce...no thanks partner, we'll assist our selves. Come..._girl_." the latter was directed to Nate who followed with some difficulty.

Heading in the direction of Raven and Aqualad, they passed the booth being occupied by the titans, where they stopped and stared at each other in an uncomfortable silence.

"Don't even ask." Measha muttered as he shifted his feet uncomfortably.

"Wasn't going too." Robin muttered right back with wide eyes.

"Well I am. What are you guys doing?" Beastboy asked loudly.

"...what does it look like?" Measha asked as he began to fidget and bounce a little.

"Looks like you two need help." Cyborg offered.

"I'll say!" Measha suddenly yelled. "How can you humans stand to wear these things? I mean come on!" he yelled flopping onto the ground and chewing at the shoes on his feet like a dog. Onlookers from tables closed by stared on in horror.

"I can't see why I couldn't be the guy." Naten mumbled turning away from the scene at his feet.

"What are you complaining about? I'm the one that has to be seen with the big, ugly, flat-chested broad, who needs a wax." Measha told him through a mouth full of shoe.

"Where did you acquire such clothing from?" Starfire asked eying their clothing with a plastered on smile.

"Robin and Beastboy's room." Measha answered as he stood up, leaving chew marks in his shoes.

"I thought that looked familiar." Robin said staring at his jacket and shirt.

"Why do you have women clothing in your room, Beastboy?" Starfire asked as all eyes turned to Beastboy.

"Yeah, man. First Raven and now Naten. What's up with that?" Cyborg asked as he remembered where Raven had gotten her shoes.

"Umm...What? Is that Raven and Aqualad holding hands?" Beastboy yelled loudly diverting all attention away from him.

"Oh, we can't have this! Come on Natalie!" Measha said loudly as he spit the shoe out and stood up unsteadily.

"I don't want to be called Natalie."

Stopping in his tracks, Meashale turned towards Nate with a raised eyebrow. "Then what do you _want_ to be called?" he asked suspiciously.

"Kelly." Nate mumbled quietly as a blush crept onto his face.

"Okay, _freak_, you can be Kelly. Are you happy?"

"A little." Nate said with a smile as he followed his red-haired ally, but as he took a step forward, he tripped in his high heels and fell to the floor. "These pantyhose are killing me." He muttered aloud as he stood and proceeded to fix his hosiery.

"Please tell me you got all that." Robin asked hopefully to Cyborg.

"Recorded every bit and still going." Cyborg answered as his robotic eye glimmered mischievously.

* * *

Raven had been staring at Aqulad with a flirtatious eye and sipping her water when she caught sight of Naten and Meashale. "Oh my god!" she yelled as she choked on her water. Aqualad was there in an instant to pat her on the back. 

"Are you okay?"

"Oh I'm sure she's fine." Nate said in an extremely high pitched as he hit Aqualad playfully in the back with his purse although the blow to the back knocked Aqualad out of his chair.

"May we join you? Don't mind if we do." Measha said as he took the seat nearest Aqualad and Naten sat next to him in the chair by Raven, and a quick elbow to the side had him closing his legs and sitting more ladylike.

"What are you two doing?" Raven asked with her monotone voice and her face void of any emotion.

"Having dinner of course silly." Nate said in his high pitched voice as he grabbed Raven' s hand and patted it, although that pat turned into a caress. "Hm, what soft hands you have." He complimented her in his normal voice earning a slap from Measha.

"Sure you can join us." Aqualad said as he regained his composure.

"What will you be having?" the waiter asked as he came over, a look of disgust on his face as he looked at Measha and Nate, who had not let go of Raven's hand as of yet.

"Fish." Measha said promptly looking pointingly at Aqualad. "Fillet-o-fish."

"Yeah I'll be having the steak if you have it." Nate said forgetting to use his woman voice and having everyone stare at him. Realizing what he did, he covered it up with a cough.

"I'll have the salad meal." Aqualad ordered.

"And I'll have the spaghetti." Raven said lastly still staring strangely at her supposed suitors.

"Salad, huh. Never heard of real men eating salad...on purpose." Measha said to Aqualad as the waiter left.

"I'm a vegetarian." Aqualad answered simply.

"Right on." Beastboy yelled from their table.

"Their here too?" Raven said aloud to herself as she glanced at the titans table.

"You know that dress looks marvelous on you." Nate whispered hotly to his dark mistress.

"Thanks. I know." Raven said in her monotone voice. She had fallen into mud one day and he had said the same.

"You know what else would look good on you?" he asked impervious to her attitude.

"You?" she guessed with annoyance.

"Ah, so you've thought about it too."

"Stop."

"You're kind of puny. I've killed things bigger than you with my toes." Measha said threatenly to Aqualad.

"I'm sure you have."

"You know Raven's my mate. I have the right to kill you just for looking at her."

"Funny how your mate wanted to go out with _me_."

"Oh you want to be funny huh? Well I say let's go. I'll fry you then eat your remains. Don't think I won't. Hey, _Kelly_, why don't you and Raven go powder your noses in the bathroom."

"Gotcha." Nate said enthusiastically as he hoisted a surprised Raven in his arms and sped off for the bathroom.

"AND DON"T TOUCH HER!" Measha yelled after them as an afterthought.

"Yeah right." Was the reply Nate threw back at him.

"I'll kill him later. Now where were we fishboy?" Measha growled as he turned to face the standing Aqualad, a ball of fire in his hand intent on killing the merman.

"You were about to fry and eat my remains." Aqualad answered calmly.

"That's right. NOW PREPARE TO BE EATEN!" Measha yelled with a hungry look in his eye before Aqualad turned the sprinklers on. "AHH, it burns." The fire demon yelled as the water extinguished his fire balls and attempted to extinguish his internal fire.

"Let's get out of here." Raven offered as she joined Aqualad once more, Nate nowhere to be seen and obviously ignoring her mate writhing and screaming in pain on the ground.

"You read my mind." Aqualad said with a smile as he placed an arm around her waist. And with smiles on both their faces they stepped over the anguished fire demon and waltzed out of the restaurant.

"The pain! The pain! The water…it _burns_!"

* * *

"Are you sure they went in there?" Nate asked uncertainly as he stared around at the night club Measha's nose had led them too. 

"Of course I'm sure. I could track Raven's scent in a snow storm." Measha said as he chewed his gum.

"If you say so. Hey, where'd you get gum?"

"…found it. You want some there's plenty to go around."

"No thanks_. And you called me a freak_."

"Shut up _Kelly_. This is perfectly good gum someone threw out."

"Look there's fishboy." Nate shouted over the music as he suddenly spotted Aqualad sitting at the bar looking dejected.

"Where's Raven, dinner?" Measha asked the pathetic looking aquatic lad as he and Nate surrounded him on both sides.

"She baled on me. I don't know what happened. We were having a good time just dancing when she flipped. Started talking about it being too many people around and that they were out to get her. I tried to get her to calm down but she just looked at me suspiciously and just disappeared."

"So she's not here?" Nate asked.

"No. She just got all paranoid and left. It was weird."

Sharing a look over the oblivious Aqualad's head, Measha and Nate each grabbed an arm and hoisted Aqualad off to the bathroom kicking and yelling.

* * *

Anxious. Anxious and paranoid was what you could call Raven at the moment. Currently she was curled up as small as she could make herself in her favorite armchair. A small target was harder to hit. She would have locked herself in her room, but who knew who had been in their and tampered with what while she was gone. They were out to get her and she knew it. No one liked a half-breed. So she had taken refuge in her favorite chair and waited for them to come home. That way she knew who was in the house and not. Better to know who to watch. 

"Raven! Are you here? We're back!" she heard yelled from the main hall before her 'friends' entered the room.

"Oh! Hello friend Raven! Did you not think that was the most hilarious thing you…"

"Don't come any closer."

"Why Rae, what's wrong?" Cyborg asked worried.

"You're what's wrong. Don't think I don't know what'sgoing on. I'm on to you. I've seen the way your eyes are plotting against me."

"Plotting against you? Rae what are you talking…"

Don't come any closer. I'll hurl you out the window. Don't think I won't."

"Umm…okay. Well we'll just be over here. You want anything to eat? We saw you didn't get to eat at the restaurant." Robin offered as he assumed another emotion had taken over.

"Like I'd eat anything you'd give me."

"We're only trying to help." Beastboy said in offense.

"Yeah. Help finish me off."

"We'll just wait until Meashale comes back." Cyborg said as they all took seats in Raven's point of view.

"Oh, so he's the one to do the job huh?"

"Raven...shut up." Beastboy said as began to get annoyed.

"That's what you want me to do huh. Shut up. Shut up for what? So you can hear the signal to…"

"What I miss?" Measha asked in a chipper voice as he appeared beside Raven in a burst of flame making her jump in surprise as she turned her suspicious eyes on him.

"Raven's acting weird." Beastboy said in a sort of whiny voice.

"How are you terrorizing these people now?" he asked exasperated as he turned to look down at her only to jump and pull his head back as he saw how she was looking.

They stared at each other for a while before he sighed, and before the others could stop him. He delivered a blow to her head, effectively knocking her unconscious.

"What you do that for?" Robin yelled as they jumped to their feet.

"Because it's late, I'm aching all over, I need time to rekindle my fire, and I don't feel like dealing with a paranoid ass Raven at the moment." Rubbing his head a moment, Measha hoisted Raven into his arms. "Besides I hate it when she's paranoid. She always accusing and won't shut up. Even when she has the right to accuse me it's still not funny. Now we're going to bed."

"Where's friend Naten?" Starfire asked after a moment.

"What? Are _you_ accusing me now too? Damn! I didn't do anything to Princey."

"We didn't say you did." Robin said as he quirked an eyebrow.

"Oh. He's taking the trash out then."

"What trash?"

"Don't worry about that. It's trash."

"What happened to Aqualad?" Robin asked, suddenly suspicious.

"Don't worry about that. It's Aqualad."

"It's done. It'll be a long time before he sees light again." Nate announced to Measha as he suddenly appeared in a gust of wind.

"He?" Beastboy asked.

"He's talking about the trash. We put a smiley face on the bag and called him Herman." Measha said hurriedly before Nate could say anything.

"Why?" Cyborg asked this time.

"Because he didn't have parents to give him a name_. Duh_." Nate answered in an obvious sounding voice as he caught on.

"I didn't have parents to give me a name either. I made mine up all by myself. Oh yeah, with the help of that old woman who thought I was a girl for 9 years." Measha said proudly.

"That explains it." Beastboy whispered to Cyborg.

"That's because you're a sad, strange, twisted, little man." Nate said with a shake of his head before he realized what was in Measha's arms. "HEY! Why the hell is my woman unconscious?"

"Don't worry about that. It's Raven."


	6. Chp 6 True Intentions

* * *

**Chp 6**** True Intentions**

* * *

The next morning found the titans in a state of curiosity. The reason for their curiosity? Raven was eating. And not just eating, but eating a lot.

"Hungry there Rae?" Cyborg asked as he watched in wonder as she continued to consume her food at an impossible rate.

"Starving." She said briefly through a mouthful of omelet.

"Starving?" Meashale said through a bark of laughter. "Is she starving? _She's_ on her third plate and just look behind you."

Looking behind themselves the titans could clearly see the stove and fridge cooking meal after meal by itself. All skillets, spatulas, and ingredient were being powered by black energy.

"You think we could snatch one of those plates?" Cyborg asked as his stomach began to growl.

"Yeah, but do it quick before someone else inhales it." Measha answered looking pointedly at Raven who just ignored him as she continued to eat.

"Why are you so hungry?" Robin asked with general concern.

"Store up energy." She said again, giving short answers through eating.

"Energy for what?" Starfire asked this time.

"Her birthday's tomorrow." Meashale answered for her looking more excited than she.

"Yeah that's right!" Beastboy exclaimed. "So what is it Rae? Turning the big 18?"

"18!" Measha yelled with loud obnoxious laughter, not realizing how Raven had frozen and was staring out into space with wide eyes, her fork still in her mouth. "18? More like seventy-t…OW!" Raven in slight panic had pulled the fork from her mouth and implanted it into his thigh. This was easy for her, considering she was sitting in his lap.

"Oh! A fork to the thigh? How childish." Measha said with mock scolding as he pulled the fork form his thigh and tossed it. By this time she had a new fork and was halfway through with her fourth plate. "Why don't you act your age grandma…OW!" this time his yell was from a quick elbow to the eye, followed by an uncharacteristic giggle from Raven.

Nate, who was sitting closest to the couple, sat slouched in his seat as he gloomily watched the two. Putting his head onto his fist moodily, he watched with an unchanging expression as he inconspicuously brought his foot up behind the unsuspecting pair and quickly kicked Meashale in his head, sending him sprawling to the floor as he quickly pulled Raven into his lap where he happily began feeding her from his plate soon after. She didn't seem to care as long as she was eating. Measha on the other hand was fuming mad.

"What do you think you're doing? She's MY MATE!" Measha yelled angrily as his hair caught fire.

Raven looked up as if she was about to stop the on coming fight. But instead she grabbed her head and began screaming bloody murder. Jumping from Nate's lap she fell to the ground in a feeble position as she began to rock and scream at the same time.

"WHAT THE HELL? _RAVEN_!" Measha screamed, concern written all over his face, the first time any of them had seen him show any care for Raven.

"Raven!" Naten yelled with frantic fear on his as he made to go towards her.

"Don't touch her!" Measha said angrily, shoving Nate out his way as he went towards his mate, fear evident in his shiny, black eyes. But soon he too went down screaming and grabbing his head.

"What is that?" Raven yelled as she pulled herself up still holding her head. The titans were shocked at first to see her eyes were black, claws and fangs had become evident, and her ears were pointing out from her hair.

"I don't know!" Measha yelled in a similar state only with yellow eyes. Screaming together the two vacated with room in a twister of flame and in the shadow of a great bird.

"What was that all about?" Beastboy asked aloud as the room grew quiet.

"I don't know but it must not be good." Robin answered as best he could.

Nate on the other hand looked sick as realization donned on his face. Just then a loud crack went out through the room as a round shaped crystal appeared in the room and landed on the table in front of Nate. His eyes grew wide as he eyed the thing.

"Dude? What is that?" Beastboy asked curiously.

"Nothing!" Nate yelled snatching the object up into his arms and bounding up the stairs.

"What the hell is going on?" Cyborg asked his clueless teammates.

"I don't know but I'll be glad when it's over." Robin said after a pause with the agreement of everyone else in the room.

* * *

In his room, Naten turned off all the lights and set the crystal on his bed as he shrugged off his disguise. Laying a blue tattooed hand over the crystal, it bean to glow white with activation. Soon after there was someone else in the room with Nate.

"My Queen." He said formerly laying a fist over his white robes in the place where his heart would be and bowed deeply. Then with a sheepish grin he looked her in the face. "Hi."

"Don't you hi me, young man." The queen said hotly in the same accent of Nate's, her green eyes flashing wildly. "Almost a year and not word. I've been worried sick. What if the humans caught you and performed experiments? What if you got hit by one of their metal birds? What if you actually _liked_ it there? Oh the nightmares I've been having."

"I'm fine as you can see and I can't wait to get back." Naten said exasperatedly as he rolled his eyes.

"Then why not come already?"

"Because…_mother_…I'm on a mission. Remember? The one I begged and begged for?"

" Mission." Scoffed the queen, throwing her long blue hair over her shoulder as she did so. "And how goes this _mission_. Have you required the subject yet?"

"Yes mother I have. I've gathered information on her, I've gotten her trust, and now I'm working on her falling in love with me. Once I have accomplished that, I'll have her captured and I'll bring her to court in our realm. Then your precious _baby boy_ will be home."

"Don't play with my feelings like that little boy. I am _your_ mother and when you say things like that to me you hurt _my heart_. Is it so wrong for a mother to miss her son when he hasn't called, or contacted her in over a year? Is it so wrong?" She said in a heartbroken voice as tears began to fall from her eyes.

"Don't cry mother? I'll be home soon. And I'll have the girl and everything will be alright. You'll see." Nate reconciled her as guilt suddenly overtook him.

"Good, then I'll be expecting you home in the next few weeks." The queen said happily as her mood did a complete 180. "Now don't be a stranger and hurry and bring the subject. By the way your father says hi and your cousins and the rest of the family send their love. By son." And with a fizzle her image was taken back into the crystal.

"Can you say _bipolar_?" Nate said with a shudder as he put his disguise back on. "What's wrong with my family?"

"What are you?" a monotone voice said from the doorway.

Eyes wide with fear, Nate spun around to find Raven and Measha standing in the doorway and staring hatefully at him. The sight tore his heart in two.

"Raven I…" he began.

"You're one of _them_ aren't you?" she interrupted her eyes going from him to the crystal on his bed.

"Yes but I…" he started again as he walked towards her only to be blocked by a furious looking Meashale.

"Stay away from me!" Raven yelled as she took off down the hall.

"Stay away from me." Measha mocked in Raven's voice as his expression changed from fury to sadistic amusement. "Seems like you've lost. Now Raven's all mine and tonight...you'll be seeing her for the last time. I'm taking her home to daddy. And there's nothing you can do about it."

"I won't let you. I'll kill you before I let you take her away." Nate growled furiously as he shoved Measha against the wall.

"And how are you going to do that? She won't listen to you. She knows what you are, and the demon in her won't give you a second thought."

Nate's green eyes burned angrily into his black ones, and with an angry growl he shoved the grinning Measha against the wall one last time before running after Raven.

"You can't save her." Measha yelled after him, laughing scornfully as he did so.

* * *

In her anger, the door to her room slammed shut, rather then ease itself close. But she didn't care; her head was in to much turmoil at the moment to process more than one thing at the moment. And it was currently focused on one thing….person…Revine. Nate. Naten. The liar. The fake. _The phony._

"My head!" she growled out, not realizing how angry she was getting. How much her voice was changing? She only knew she felt betrayed and her head was killing her. Squatting down to the floor she clutched her head in pain.

Her head. She should have known then what he was. Only thing that could cause a demon pain like that was the frequency of the Revine's themselves. And elimination should have made it clear it was him. Robin was human, Beastboy was a changeling, Starfire was Tameranian, and Cyborg was a cyborg. But what was Naten. He was too strange looking to be a human with superpowers and he had actually never told anyone what he was.

Now that she thought about, there were clues everywhere. His high pain endurance, his fast healing rate, the strange powers, and the feeling of unease she got around him. At first she thought it was the fact that he was disturbingly in love with her. But now she knew he was one of them. One of the hated races of demons. And too think she was starting to like him. She wasn't close too loving him she knew. But she was starting to like him, to trust him, to consider him. Then this happened. At first she thought Meashale was just being stupid. But she followed him to Naten's room anyway, and now she was glad she did. She didn't hear all the conversation through the door, but she caught snips of it that made her suspicious. But what really summed it up was the familiar power of the Revine's as the messenger crystal deactivated.

"It's Malchior all over again." She muttered with a bitter laugh. "Well at least I found out about Nate before anything serious happened."

"Raven!" a knock at the door sounded followed by the desperate cry.

"No. Go away." She mumbled not bothering to look at the door, knowing who it was.

"But Raven I can explain…" Nate insisted as he began to knock harder.

"Leave me alone."

"Raven, just list…."

"Leave me alone. Leave me alone! Leave! Me! _ALONE_!" Springing up Raven yelled the last part as she let her emotions take hold and do there worst. The lights flickered, windows began breaking throughout the tower, and she was lifted into the air and spun around in a mini black tornado. The whole tower was surrounded in her black magic and it began creaking and groaning. Four eyed ravens with red haunting eyes flew throughout the halls terrorizing all with their horrific cawing. The same four red eyes began showing up on walls in random places followed by evil, cackling laughter.Somewhere, and embarrassingly where everyone could see him, Measha was screaming the loudest and not to mention like a girl. For this was anger, and he was not on the favorite list.

The lights flickered off for the last time as Raven spent up the last of her energy. As her tornado began to lose strength it gently laid her down on the ground, everything that happened began to fade away as she took calming breaths. Glancing up tiredly she gasped when she caught sight of her reflection just as it got back to normal. Looking into the mirror she saw that her eyes had split and were glowing red, her hair was slowly inching upwards back to it's normal length, she could see claws and fangs retracting, and her head looked as if it had been hit by something for there was a huge knot protruding from her forehead. But as she blinked she was back to normal, except for the knot and her clothes. Her clothes were in tatters and could no longer be defined as clothing but as underwear.

On shaky legs she managed to hold herself up long enough to collapse onto her bed. Still staring into the mirror, shehealed the bump on her head with tender fingers before falling back into the comfort of her bed, completely spent.

* * *

"Shouldn't someone go check on her?" Beastboy asked concernedly as they straightened the tower back up.

"Yeah, but I think we should let her be for the time being. Besides if something was wrong with her Measha or Nate would have realized it by now." Robin answered as he helped Starfire sweep up the broken glass.

"Do they actually look like help at the moment Robin?" Cyborg asked irritably as he replaced the furniture into the correct order. He was irritable because something made Raven extremely angry and no one was doing anything about it. He _would_ go check on her, but he wasn't going alone. What if she was still angry?

Robin considered the question a moment as he looked to the two boys, and as he looked at them he realized the answer was no. Nate was moping at the table looking heartbroken and dejected and Measha was off in the corner in a feeble position. They didn't know what happened to him, but all they saw was something dragging the poor boy under the couch and they found him later in a closet.

"I guess not."

"Good, then we should go check on her?" Cyborg said with resolve as he threw down everything in his hand.

"There's no need." Raven said blandly as she emerged from the stairs, dressed in a spare uniform.

"Raven would you just let…" Nate began desperately as he looked just about ready to cry, but with a throw of her hand at him, he disappeared in a black dome of her magic.

"Raven? Is everything All right?" Cyborg asked concernedly seemingly not caring that Nate was just banished to who knows where.

"Everything's fine." She told him as she managed a small smile for him. "It's just I found some things out about someone that set me off." She said as she walked over towards her gibbering mate. Picking him up by the scruff of his neck, she delivered one swift slap to his face that brought him back to his right mind.

"Hi." He said with a broad smile as he regained his senses. "I think I just died a little inside. It was great. I retreated to the back of my mind and let me just tell you…it could use some redecorating,"

"I think you need to slap him one more time." Beastboy whispered as Raven passed him.

"NO, he's just naturally crazy." She replied as she headed straight for the kitchen to fix her something to eat.

"I mean there were cracks everywhere and cobwebs.And was it dark? Oh my god, you would have loved it."

"Okay Raven, you have got to…" Nate said urgently as he reappeared out of nowhere, only to disappear once more as a black hole appeared under his feet.

"What's all that about?" Robin asked with a quirk of an eyebrow.

"He's the one I found out about." Raven said simply as she pulled forth a four foot long sandwich.

"My hoagie!" Cyborg cried out in alarm, but with a slight pleading glance from Raven he gave in. "Enjoy it."

"What could be so horrible about him that you already didn't know?" Beastboy asked curiously. "We all know he's crazy, indestructible boy, and has a freakish, disturbing, unhealthy obsession over you."

"He lied to me." She managed to say as she set down a large glass of on the counter before she began to devour her meal.

"He's a Revine." Measha answered before anyone could ask questions. Coming over to sit at the counter next to Raven he developed a serious attitude. "That thing that attacked me and Raven earlier came from the realm of the Revine. Revines are the most, hated enemy of demons of all kinds. We all used to share the same realm together. The Revine and demons that is. Way before me and Raven's time. It wasn't exactly peaceful, but no one bothered anyone. Until someone got into their fat heads that they were superior to the demons! Then all hell broke loose!So we stomped their monkey asses! Then everyone got all upset. You see they said this because Demons and Revines all came from the same species and they just branched off into separate beings. Demons, who delved into darkness and evil and all that sort, and Revines, who did the exact opposite. Bitches. Anyway! The two races argued back and forth, fighting, yelling, and using their freakish powers against each other. I wish I was born back then because I would have cracked someskulls along with the best of them. Well basically what I'm saying is that Revines and Demons are the same damn race only with different attitudes about shit. So banning together us demons decided to kill all the Revines at once, while the Revine decided the same thing at the same damn time. Talk about coincidence. Well when the two spells hit each other BOOM! Big ass explosion! And the next thing we knew we were in a different realm and the Revine were in a different realm, the old realm was dead. So the moral of this story is…shit happens." During his whole history lesson Measha kept a serious look on his face, the complete opposite of his voice and exclamations.

"So you're telling me Raven hates Nate now because of an old war between the two races?" Robin asked as the story came to an end.

"Yeah basically."

"I don't hate him. I'm just mad he thought I _would_ if he told me the truth." Raven said as she stared at them blankly, the sandwich nowhere in sight.

"You eat that whole thing?" Beastboy and Cyborg asked at the same time as they looked for the sandwich.

"She's lying. She does hate him." Measha said dismissing her excuse.

"No I don't."

"You're in denial."

"No I'm not, I don't hate him, I'm just mad."

"Denial."

"I'm not in denial about hating you." Raven told him; beginning to get annoyed she got up and left.

"Deni…bitch I hate you too!" he yelled angrily as he realized what she said.

"Raven, just listen to me!" Nate yelled as he once again reappeared.

"She's gone dude." Beastboy said to the distressed Revine.

"Damnit! If only she'd hear me out." Naten said sadly as he plopped his head down onto the counter.

"Oh cheer up, Princey." Measha said comfortingly as he patted Nate on the back. "Not like you had a chance with her anyway."

Growling, Nate grabbed the nearest glass to him, which happened to be filled with water, and slung it at the mocking demon, .

"WATER! It _burns_!" Measha screamed as he fell to the ground bucking and screaming.

"Raven and Measha told us about your races." Robin announced after they watched Measha roll around for a few seconds.

"So is that why you two are always fighting?" Beastboy asked.

"No, we just don't like each other because of Raven." Nate said with a grim smile as he thought about his dark love obsession. "So she told you huh?"

"Yes she did. Why did you not tell us what you really are? Are you ashamed of your family?" Starfire asked sympathetically.

"I _am_ ashamed of my family but it's not for that reason. I just didn't think it was that important. Did she say she hated me?" he asked with hope.

"No, she said she was just mad you didn't trust her enough to tell her." Robin answered.

"Really?" Nate exclaimed staring lovingly at nothing. "Then I should go talk to her."

"Slow down there cowboy." Cyborg said halting the eager Revine with a hand to his shoulder. "She's still mad, so give her some time."

"Yeah dude. Her birthday's tomorrow, so why don't you come with us to get the party things. That way you can buy her an awesome present to win her back over." Beastboy offered putting a hand on his other shoulder.

"I don't know."

"It's either that or stay here and risk getting banished someplace dark like the closet with the mirror and TV again." Cyborg suggested in a matter-o-fact voice. This seemed to change his mind.

"Well what are we waiting for; I have to get my woman some lingerie." Nate told the rest as he began to set off towards the door.

"I think a book would be sufficient." Robin said as they followed the lovesick boy out the door.

"Robin? What is this 'lingerie'?" Starfire asked floating after them all confusedly.

* * *

Now alone, Measha took this time to sit on the roof and contact his Master. Holding the amulet he always wore around his neck up too look into it he called his master. "Yeah, I got everything set. On the stroke of midnight we'll enter the in-between and go straight home."

"Good, does she expect anything?" Trigon asked from the other side, only his red eyes visible through the communicator.

"No. She's too busy worrying about…other things." Measha laughed inwardly thinking about Nate and emotional hazards.

"Splendid. If you get her here without 'problems' then you will be rewarded beyond your sick mind's delights."

"Promise?" Measha asked in a high pitched voice that held so much excitement.

"On my honor. That is…if you do not fail me." And with a glower, Trigon's image vanished, leaving Meashale alone on the roof.

"A few hours before midnight. So we're going to need a big distraction for the kids to take care of." Standing up, Measha looked out over the town with sick delight as unpleasant thoughts ran throughout his head. "It has to be big. Real big!" he yelled as he conjured a large fireball into his hands. "Big. Big! BIG!"

As he continued to yell, the fire began to enlarge, his eyes burned orange, and his hair became enflamed.

* * *

The fire was colossal. Everywhere they looked there were flames. Every building insight seemed to be on fire.

"How can there be so much fire?" Beastboy asked in bewilderment as he stared almost hypnotically into the flames.

"Stop gawking! Cyborg, Starfire, help to put out the flames! Beastboy and Nate help to rescue as many people as you can! GO!" Robin yelled giving out orders.

"What about Rae, shouldn't somebody contact her?" Cyborg asked as he hooked his hose to the hydrant.

"No time!" Robin yelled dashing off towards the nearest scream of help.

Nate hesitated a moment before running to help, blowing out flames as he ran. He thought he heard laughter amidst the flames. Familiar laughter.

"Bigger! Bigger! More flames! Make it big! It has to be BIG!" Measha's voice rang out from the roar of the flames, but no one paid attention to what the flames were saying, their #1 priority was to silence them anyhow.

* * *

The titans arrived back to the tower, a tired and sooty mess, although quite pleased with themselves. It had taken them a while to put out the flames, but once they did they found that the fire hadn't spread far. Despite the size of the fire,causalities were at a minimum 50.

It was due to their exhaustion that they didn't notice how dark and quiet the tower was.

"I'm so tired!" Beastboy complained as they dropped their bags in the living room, not caring if Raven saw them or not.

"I require a major bath." Starfire said rubbing a pile of soot off her arms for emphasis.

" Bath? I think I'll just go crash in my room. I'll bathe tomorrow." Robin yawned loudly, barely able to keep his eyes open.

"Room? Wake me up in the morning." Cyborg added lastly sliding to the floor where he stood.

"Something's not right." Nate stated quietly before Meashale's scream tore throughout the tower. Not soon after, said demon stumbled down the stairs looking worse for worn with a bleeding head, ratty clothes, a black eye, and various cuts and scratches.

"Don't just stand there…RUN!" he yelled making his way for the door, but before he could reach it a black hole appeared over it. Halting in his tracks he yelled in terror before sprinting back up the stairs. And like idiots the other titans stared confusedly after him before turning their attention back to the door**. (Sound advice alert: listen people, if you're with a group of people, even if you're not with a group of people WHATEVER! If you're with people, _meaning not by yourself_, and one or more people start running. YOU RUN TOO! Okay, don't just stand there laugh, look around confusedly, try to figure out what's going, or even _hesitate_ to run. Just run! You'll thank me later. That's how people die. Don't you watch movies?)**

"Don't run away." Came Raven's voice from within the vortex, "I have something to TELL YOU!" Raven's voice suddenly turned evil as four red eyes followed by black tendrils emerged from the hole.

"AAHHHH!" all the titans screamed in unison before running up the stairs.

"WHAT"S THE MATTER? DON'T YOU LIKE ME ANYMORE?" Raven's demonic voice sounded behind them before laughing hysterically.

"What is that?" Nate yelled as they ran for their lives.

"Rage!" Beastboy and Cyborg answered in unison. "The next emotion." Cyborg finished.

"Oh that's just great! Where the hell is Measha?"

"Guys?" a timid voice called out pitifully as a fully cloaked Raven appeared in front of them all of a sudden. She stood docile with her head down hiding her face from view.

"Raven?" Robin called out nervously.

"Help me." She called out holding her head up so that they could see she was back to normal. Collapsing to the ground she began to have tremors that shook her entire body.

"Raven, are you okay?" they asked relieved as they rushed to her aid.

"I'll be fine. I've gotten it…under control just…just…just long enough so I could tell you…to…to fight back."

"What? Raven we can't…" Beastboy began, supporting her by the arm.

"JUST DO IT!" she yelled as anger began to peak through again. "If you want to live." She added more calmly.

"But isn't there something we can do to help?" Naten asked hopefully.

"There's nothing." She said tiredly as she felt herself slipping. "I'll be…fine…just…fight back."

"But isn't there…"Robin began.

"THERE'S NOTHING! YOU CAN'T SAVE ME!" with anger taking control again Raven growled this as she hoisted Robin up by his throat and slammed him against the wall so hard that she put a considerable dent in it the size…well the size of Robin's back.

"Let him go!" Starfire yelled hitting Raven in the back with a starbolt.

Drooping a bit under the force of the hit, Raven, demonic Raven, looked back to see a sad and guilt ridden Starfire in a fighting stance with a defiant gaze in her eyes. Turning back towards Robin she saw pain written all over her face, but instead of feeling guilt she laughed scornfully andtossed Robin into the opposite wall as she turned around and backhanded Starfire to the ground. But Cyborg was on her instantly.

"Calm down Raven, I don't want to hurt you!" Cyborg yelled jumping onto her back and throwing his arms around her neck.

"Hurt me?" Raven laughed scornfully. "You couldn't even manage to imagine the extent of my power, let alone hurt me!" and to prove her point she slung him off her in an effortless motion.

But her victory was short lived for suddenly there was Beastboy, as the man-beast, charging and pushing her down the hall. Growling in frustration, Raven picks the beast up by the waist and hurtled him towards the others, but before she could even breathe, she was pelted by gust and gust of white, slapping, biting wind as Nate attacks sorrowfully. This attack seemed to affect her the most for she was being drawn back by the attack, but itwasn't enough. Nate's heart wasn't completely in it. Growling dangerously, Raven grew tall as the black tendrils began to creep from under her robes.

"I'm sorry I have to do this Raven, but you asked for it!" by now Cyborg and Starfire were back to their feet and throwing in their attacks which threw Raven down a size, but not completely. But that was soon solved as Robin threw his exploding bird-o-rangs and Beastboy finished it all off by ramming into her in the form of a t-Rex, sending her flying. Raven hit a wall and fell to the floor in a heap of tattered clothes and bruises.

The titans all relaxed at seeing their friend unconscious, but all hopes were dashed as they heard her scornful laugh and saw her body shaking with mirth. Standing up, she let her cloak and strips of her uniform fall to the floor at her feet.

"I told you mortals." She growled as she took steps towards them, strands of her power encircling her and leaking from her eyes as she did so. "You cannot possibly hope to defeat me. I am the daughter of Trigon and it's going…" the clock chimed twelve loudly throughout the tower. It was now officially Raven's birthday.

"Look." Beastboy called out unnecessarily. For they were all looking. Looking at Raven as she passed out on her feet, but before she could hit the ground, folds of her black energy enfolded her in a cocoon that burned white at the seams.

"I'll take that!" Measha called out as he suddenly appeared and caught the falling cocoon that was Raven. "It was fun kids, but now it's time for us to go home." Measha said with a sadistic smile as a wall of fire separated him and Raven from the rest of the titans.

Cyborg, having retained water in his canon quickly put the fire out, but it was too late. Raven was gone.

"Where's he taking her?" Beastboy asked despairingly, running an anxious hand through his hair.

"To the demon realm." Nate said quietly as he fumbled with something inside his shirt.

"How do you know?" Robin asked holding a shaking Starfire.

"Because I felt the energy of the in-between. Now let's go before they get there." Ripping a chain from around his neck, Nate held up a miniature white sword made from diamonds in the air. Sticking into the space in front of him he turned it as if it was a key and seemingly pulled open a door in the middle of the hall, where blinding white light issued from within.

"What is that?" Cyborg asked puzzled and maybe even a bit frightened.

"The in-between, now let's hurry before they reach the demon realm. If they reach it before we find it, there's no way we can save her! NOW LET'S GO!" Naten yelled desperately as he jumped into the white, into the in-between.

"Should we follow?" Starfire asked unsurely into the now quiet hall as they stared into the white doorway.

No one said anything, but Cyborg and Beastboy shared a look and jumped in without a second thought.

"Whoa! I don't think we're in jump city anymore guys." Beastboy's echoed voice sounded out as he a Cyborg floated aimlessly in the in-between. They were soon followed by Starfire and Robin.

The in-between was exactly how it sounded. In between two endless rows of doorways, much the same as the one they just entered. It wasn't as bright as they thought, yes it was white, but it wasn't blinding. Above them stood endless white, below them floated individual pieces of gray slate about three feet apart from each other and further apart from the doorways. In between each doorway and piece of slate the endless white continued, making it seem as if they floated on and in nothing. Which they were.

"Glad to see you guys made it." A voice sounded from behind them pleasantly.

Spinning around, all four remaining titans gasped in surprise.

"Nate?" Beastboy called out unsure.

"Hi." Nate replied sheepishly.

"Why…how…you look different."

"This is how I truly look. No one can hide who they are…in the in-between."


	7. Chp 7 Happy Birthday

**

* * *

**

Chp.7 Happy Birthday

* * *

"Nate…you look…different." Beastboy said again, not being able to take in the new Nate. For Nate's true form was one to behold. His skin had taken on a blue tint and he was covered in tattoo like markings. The markings on his face consisted of three, thin, horizontal stripes on each cheek, looking much like whiskers, and two broader, vertical stripes on his forehead. His hair, which retained its natural shape and color, became animated, seemingly with a life of its own, except for two bands of it that stuck straight up a top his forehead as if they were antennae. His ears, which had always been covered by his hair, protruded far out from the side of his head and ended in sharp points. He now wore white robes instead of his old clothing. His pants stopped mid calf, leaving the rest of his legs bare, and his top came to his thighs but left his chest open and bare. But the most peculiar of all were the visible air currents that repeatedly circled his body. There was one around his head, shoulders, elbows, wrists, two around his waist, each thigh, knee, ankle, and three around each bare foot.

"You look…" Beastboy began again only to be silenced by Cyborg's fist on his head.

"Where's Raven and Measha?" He demanded irritably.

"They went down the tunnel." Nate said casually pointing behind him.

"Then let's go before it's too late." He said as he tried to swim through the air although he got nowhere.

"Don't worry about it. It'll be alright." Nate said with a smile.

"What do you mean? Why aren't you worried?" Robin asked with a quirk of his eyebrow.

"He went the wrong way. Demon realm is the other way."

"NO? Are you serious? After all that…he went the wrong way?" Cyborg asked unbelievably.

"Yeah, I've traveled up and down these halls, searching for Raven. He went the wrong way?"

"Are you sure? Maybe he tricked you into thinking he went that way."

"No, I'm sure. Just listen." Nate told them as he quieted down.

The titans could hear nothing at first but then it reached them as clear as day, Measha's angry outbursts. "Where the hell is that door? What the hell? Did I go the wrong way? DAMN IT! Why don't they put signs up in this place? Damn!"

"See. It'll take him a few moments to get back here. SO…any questions?"

"You said earlier you've searched these halls before, looking for Raven. What did you mean? Have you met her before or something?" Robin asked curiously.

"Oh that. Before I arrived to the human realm…before I left _my_ realm. I had just celebrated my 50th birthday and my mother and father got a hissy fit about me having to have a fiancée before reaching adulthood or some jibe like that. Said something about not needing a bachelor as the future king. I don't know I wasn't really. So they kept setting up all the noble girls and princesses to come to the palace in hope I'll court one of them. Let me just tell you…what a dog show. I got tired of this and begged them to let me find a wife on my own. Finally they relented but gave me guidelines. She had to be of noble birth, I couldn't knock her unconscious and just drag her back to the palace, and she had to be of great power. All meaning, she had to be of good breeding stock, a princess, a kick-ass fighter, and she had to love me willingly. I went to my aunt , The Lady Destiny, and asked her magic mirror where I could find such a girl…it sowed me Raven. I loved her at first sight, I became obsessed with her, but I couldn't get to her. She was in the human realm, and my uncle, The Gatekeeper, wouldn't let me enter the gateway to go to her, and my parents said I could when I finished learning the spells and acts of gate jumping. SCREW THAT! I stole my uncle's key and hightailed it out to find _my_ _woman_."

"So you've been freakishly, unhealthy, over obsessed with Raven far longer than anyone has known? Dude you need help." Beastboy muttered as he floated overhead.

"So what's your point?"

"You're a prince? So that makes Raven a princess?" Starfire asked as she tried to comprehend what Nate had just told her.

"Yep, I'm Prince Nat…Naten of the Revine realm, also known as Lord of Air. And Raven is daughter to Trigon, King of the Demon Realm." Naten said proudly.

"Why did not friend Raven say she was a princess? She and I have much in common."

"You're a princess too Star?" Nate asked curiously.

"Yes, I am heir to the Tameranian throne." She said just as proudly.

"You know…" Nate said eyeing her up and down. "I have an older cousin…Mar, Lord of Speed, and he's in need of a wife…"

"Shouldn't we get back to Raven's situation?" Robin suggested loudly interrupting the young prince just as he tried to get his cousin a hook up.

"Of course...and speak of the devil." Spinning around, Nate defiantly faced the direction Measha had set off.

"I am going to burn something down when we get back! You just wait!" they could hear him yelling as they could see something approaching…and fast.

"She may be his mate, but she was destined for me." The titans heard Nate growl out under his breath as the air currents around him expanded and began to spin faster. "Get ready titans, here Measha is going to be a whole lot more trouble"

"WHAT the hell is this?" Measha yelled with a wicked smile as he came to a sudden halt directly in front of them.A wall of flames dispersed behind him just as he stopped. Raven, still in her cocoon, was held securely in his arms.

The titans all held in gasps at the sight of the true Measha. His skin looked stretched over his skin, his eyes were mere yellow slits, and his smile was filled with tons of sharp pointed fang oozing with saliva. His eyebrows, which they had all thought bushy, were literally now flames, along with his hair, which had grown longer but defied gravity. His ears, just as Nate's, were sticking far out from the side of his head, and on his hands were some nasty looking claws. And swishing behind him, like an enraged snake, was a tail made of pure fire.

"What do _you_ kiddies want?" he said with a sneer as he licked his claws ominously, and as he did steam would issue from them.

"We want Raven." Cyborg said hotly.

"And we're prepared to fight you for her." Robin added as they all got into fighting positions, well as best they could since they were floating aimlessly, all except Nate.

"Not here." Nate said briefly, glancing at them.

"What do you mean? He's right there, let's get him." Beastboy said with uncharacteristic eagerness.

"This is a place of peace. All who enter it, whether mortal enemies or evil doer, do not defile this place with things such as violence and the likes." Measha informed them in a serious voice.

"He is right. That is why we must leave to some place to commence with the fight." Nate said turning his back on Measha as he did so.

"But…but what if he attacks while our backs are turned." Beastboy asked incredulously as Nate passed him by.

"One thing all demons hold greater than anything…is our honor and I will not soil _mine_ by attacking in the in-between. You have my word." Measha said sincerely.

"I believe him. That's one thing Demons and Revines have in common…and that's honor."

"And big ears." Beastboy muttered to himself.

"What?" he said loudly as both Measha and Nate looked at him sharply. "This is a place of peace, I thought I'd get it out here rather than somewhere where you can hurt me."

"Come this way Princey, we'll fight in the Lost Desert." Measha said after a pause, before jumping into the endless white between the slate and the doorways, Raven clamped firmly on his shoulder.

"Well come on! You heard the man, fight in that lost desert." Cyborg exclaimed loudly for no reason what-so-ever.

"It's '_The'_ Lost Desert." Nate corrected him.

"What the difference?"

"The word 'The' and capitalization." Nate said before disappearing into the white.

"Should we follow?" Starfire asked inquisitively.

"You seem to be asking that a lot." Cyborg said giving her a look, "Of course we follow. It's Raven she'd do the same for us…not so sure about Beastboy…but she'd _definently_ do it for us."

"Then it's settled. Now…does anyone know how to move?" Robin asked into the quiet tunnel as they all floated aimlessly.

"No, I've just been floating. I can turn…but other than that, I'm stuck." Beastboy said uselessly as he spun in a never ending circle.

"Hm…that's not good."

* * *

After what seemed like an hour later, the rest of the titans finally made it to the Lost Desert. They managed this by having the one, Cyborg, closest to the spot where Measha and Nate disappeared; stick his foot into the white. Doing this they all clamped hands and held on tight as Cyborg was sucked through, and like a chain reaction they all were pulled through…and fell 25 feet out of the air, but thankfully the red sand below was soft as cotton. On impact they began rolling down the dune at an uncommonly speed and landed in a pile of arms and legs on the bottom, but unfortunately, Cyborg managed to come in last on the fall and landed on top of everyone. Poor Beastboy was on the bottom. 

"Get off," he groaned before morphing into an elephant and shaking them off his hurt back. "Whoa!" he breathed out aloud as he took in the sight before him. The Lost Desert was truly a sight to behold. The unnaturally red sand was clean and pure. No rocks, sediments, twigs, or weeds polluted the beauty of this desert. Everywhere he looked there was red sand dune after red sand dune. The sky contrasted against the red sand, for the sky was a blue unlike any blue he had seen before. No cloud could be seen in sight. Above them they could see the in-between floating above them like an endless highway. The slate and doorways just hovered above as if they were a natural part of the sky.

"Beastboy! Come on!"

Turning on his heel, and kicking up the red sand as he did so, Beastboy caught sight of his teammates, halfway up the dune and leaving him.

"Aww! We just came from up there." He whined before turning into a camel and raced up towards his teammates.

"Wow, they're really going at it." Robin remarked as they made it to the top to find Nate and Measha battling it out on a flattened out area of the desert.

A lone tree stood on the grounds of their battle field, and on the ground next to it, laid Raven, still inside her cocoon.

"Should we interfere?" Starfire asked after they watched the two fight back and forth a little while.

"No, they've wanted to fight like this since they first met. I'm afraid if we get between their fight we might not see the outcome of this battle." Robin answered with a shake of his head.

"I'm going to go see if I can get to Raven." Cyborg whispered to them as if he was afraid Measha might hear.

"We're coming too." Beastboy said as he and the rest headed back down the dune, hopefully to steal Raven away before Measha took any notice of them.

* * *

"You know this is going to take forever." Measha complained as Nate broke his neck with a strong air current and he stabbed Nate in the chest with his clawed hand only to have their wounds healed by their powers and the magic of the in-between. 

"This is stupid. No one can die in the in-between." Nate argued as he calmed down a bit. "Why are we fighting here?"

"Because we hate each other and it gives us the chance to beat the living shit out of one another without the other going and dieing while we still have bent up anger that needs to be vented."

"Oh, yeah that's right." Nate remembered with a smile as they looked at each other with wide grins. "First to lose consciousness?"

"Seems about right." Measha answered before spirals of fire encircled his arms and he charged the grinning prince.

The force of his punch had Nate plummeting down into the sand, burying him six feet deep. Not giving the Lord of Air time to breathe, Measha was on him in a sec, delivering blow after blow, driving the prince deeper and deeper into the dune. In a quick turn of events, Nate got the upper hand by grabbing Measha by the arms and shooting out of the top of the dune so fast that the fire demon couldn't get his bearings until they were nearly at the in-between tunnel. With a show of muscles, Nate tossed the demon back towards the ground speeding like a bullet as he went. To put extra momentum on the speeding demon, Nate threw torpedo after torpedo of air after him that drilled Measha deep within the earth.

"Come out; come out, wherever you are?" Nate called down into the hole as he touch downed on solid ground

"Ask and you shall receive." Measha voice replied from, seemingly, in ever direction. So it came as a surprise when the inferno of fire erupted from behind Nate, with Measha standing idly on top. "Miss me?"

"Actually yes." Nate grinned wickedly. "This fight wouldn't be the same wihtout you."

"Good. I'd hate to disappoint you. Hold on a second." Smiling good-naturedly, Measha pointed his finger at Raven and smiled in satisfaction at hearing the titans' gasps of surprise as a wall of fire encircled Raven.

"You think mere fire can stop us?" Starfire yelled ferociously.

"No, I expect _that_ too." He said, finally turning in their direction as the great tree that towered over them suddenly grasped all the titans in its fist like branches. "That, my friends, is the Great Hugging Tree of The Lost Desert. And as its namesake says, it loves to give hugs." As he said this the titans could feel they're captive branches start to squeeze around they're midsections, making it hard to breathe. They tried to fight with they're powers and special techniques but nothing they did seemed to affect the tree, for it continued to squeeze, and squeeze…and squeeze.

"Now where were…WE? OH, SNEAK ATTACK!" Measha said as he just barely managed to avoid Nate's air whips.

"_Who's_ getting sneaky?" Measha asked in a condescending voice. "You better be careful or you'll turn into a demon."

"I'll turn Demon, when you turn Revine." Nate growled as a chain made of air appeared in his hands and he encircled it around Measha's neck.

"Oh well that'll never happen then." Measha choked out, saving himself from slipping by using his tail as a whip and slapping Nate in the face.

Screaming in pain, Nate released his hold on Measha and clutched his face. Giving Measha the perfect opportunity to regain his breath and form his next plan. Whistling to get the hurt prince's attention, Measha's roped him with his fire lasso. Nate's face, due to the healing process, was practically unmarred by the fire. The only sign of the attack was the uneven, buckled skin, which soon smoothed out, and the discoloring that ran from the middle of his forehead, to the bridge of his nose, over his right eye, across the right cheek, and down the side of his neck. This, it would seem would never be the same. Measha had branded him.

"Oh, no, did I scar your face Princey?" Measha asked, laughing scornfully as he tightened the fire rope, burning the prince and leaving welts. "I know what'll make you fell better, LET'S GO FOR A RIDE!" clutching the rope securely in his hand, Measha began to spin.At first he started out slow, but he gradually began to get faster, and faster, and faster. The speed alone would have been enough to render the strongest man unconscious, but as Measha spun he crept towards the dune, making the dizzy Nate hit them head on.

"Wee! Isn't this fun Princey?"

"It's Marvelous." Nate groaned.

"Then you are going to love this." Measha said sadistically before letting the rope dispersed, and watching as Nate sped toward the grounds.

Nate landed at angle that had him skirting across the desert, leaving a canal in his wake. Getting up achingly and groggily, Nate barely had time to put up an efficient air shield before Measha's inferno canon hit him. It drove him back a few feet as he struggled to keep up his shield. But as he kept the shield up with one hand he formed a large boomerang with the other, and hoping to catch Measha off guard he dove to the side, just as his shield gave way, and tossed the weapon with all his might. But Measha dodged just in time and countered with his own fire diskette. Ducking to the side, Nate brought forth a whip and rapped it around Measha's neck just as Measha did the same with a whip of his own. It was a stalemate. Both caught in the other's whip, and neither willing to relent.

"You let go." Measha raspy voice commanded.

"You let go first." Came Nate's choked out reply. Each whip, while closing off the windpipe of its captive, was inflicting its own amount of damage. Measha's whip burned and blistered, while Nate's cut and bit.

"On the count of three?" Measha asked as his eyes began to bulge.

"On three." Nate agreed in a similar state.

"One…" Measha began.

"…two…" Nate continued as he began to droop.

"THREE!" they both said together, but instead of letting go, they drew on the whips tighter.

"You cheated?" Nate accused as he pulled harder.

"So did you…bastard!"

"Let go!" Nate yelled as best he could.

"You let go first." Measha replied pulling as hard as he could.

So intent on breaking each other's wind pipe, that neither noticed their thrown weapons making u-turns and heading straight for them. BAM! GONG! The two combatants stared blankly at each other as they fell to their knees.

"Ow!" they said in unison before falling unconscious onto the desert sand.

"Dude! That's weak!" Beastboy complained as the Great Hugging Tree continued to hug them to death.

"This day couldn't possibly get any worse." Robin muttered just as he felt his ribs bending painfully. But before he could wince in pain, the fire wall around Raven suddenly turned into black flames. Out of the flames sang Raven's voice, although deeper and more womanly. Singing as if she hadn't a care to the words. But her singing was slightly slurred, although it wasn't bad, it just held an enticing edge to it. As if she was trying to lure people to her with a seductive song.

"Happy birth-day to _me_…" she sang slowly. Her singing aroused the boys in the field.

"Happy birth-day to…_me_." She sang again accompanied by a small, flirtatious laugh.

"Happy…_birthday_…dear…Raven!" she drawled out.

"Happy birth-day to…" here she drug 'to' out and said it with an emphasis of oows as the black flames that surrounded her died down low.

"ME!" she yelled as the flames flared up higher than they ever been. Out of the flames rose a figure dressed in black. It was Raven…that they knew. She rose as tall as Trigon if not a few feet shorter. Her back was too them but they could tell a few things about her already. Her hair had become darker and longer, reaching to her lower back, and like Nate and Measha before her, her ears protruded far out from the side of her head. She was older in body, for her curves were that of a woman, not an 18 year old girl. Her skin had gotten darker, almost a dark grey. She wore a firm fitting dress that held a high split in the thigh. Coming from her back were four large black tendrils that served as extra appendages.

"And oooooh…doesn't it…feel…_good_!" she moaned as she turned around and rubbed her hands up her voluptuous body to hold them above her head. The front of her dress was extremely low cut. Her nails, they noticed, were long, sharp, and black. She had two, brown, branch-like horns coming from her forehead, much like her fathers, and her eyes were completely red. All four of them.

"She's so big." Starfire said in wonderment.

"She fully demon." Robin whispered in realization as horror struck him in the belly.

"She needs to put on some clothes." Cyborg growled loudly as big brother mode kicked in.

"Dude she's hot!" Beastboy burst out as he looked at her in adoration.

"What?" he asked confusedly as everyone turned to look at him. "This…is from the lack of oxygen getting to my brain. It's the Hugging Tree of Doom's fault…but seriously she is hot."

"Did you miss me?" she asked them all as she gave them a fangy smile.

"Raven." Nate whispered under his breath as he stared wide eyed at her.

"What's the mater lover boy?" Raven asked as she was suddenly down to their size and standing closely next to him. "Don't you love me anymore?" she asked as she pressed herself against him and caressed her face, her extra appendages wrapping around him like he was a lost lover.

"I…I do…but…"

"But what?" she asked in a hard voice as she gripped his chin tightly. "Too demonic for you?"

"Raven…" he began, but she had already left him and was caressing Measha.

"Meashale." She whispered seductively. "My Meashale. My Measha, my mate." Kissing him on the cheek she dodged his kiss as she made a lunge for her. "Weren't you two in the middle of a fight?" she asked as she allowed her tendrils to caress Measha.

"Yeah, but…" Measha began only to be silence as one of her tendrils slapped him.

"No buts. I'm bored." She said coldly to him as she appeared by the hugging tree, again as tall as her father. "Fight. The winner may have my love." This she said enticingly, and with her toxic words ringing in their ears, the two began fighting again.

"Oh no!" she said in mock alarm as a black throne suddenly appeared under her. "My friends are in trouble. Whatever shall I do?" laughing scornfully, she bent down and touched the top of the Hugging Tree. It instantly released the titans.

"You know." She said casually as the titans began to rise up to her on a black pedestal that rose from out of the sand. "I've enjoyed the time we've spent together. I might even keep you a bit longer. You can be my pets as father and I take over. It will be splendid. Father can't do anything without his little girl. Without his key. Without me, father is a nobody demon who can't leave his own realm to save his life. That's why he wants his little girl…so I can open the other realms to him. We'll start with the human realm. Won't that be fun my pets?" she asked in a cheery voice as she turned towards them with a charming smile.

"I'm nobody's pet." Robin said defiantly.

"I can be your pet." Beastboy said adoringly. "Infact I'll be your _favorite_ pet. And as your favorite pet I get to bathe and sleep with you."

They all stared at him. "_What_? Again…the oxygen is just getting to the brain….but seriously about that bath?"

"Come on Rae. You don't want to do this. You know your father. The big red guy with four eyes, remember how me and BB helped you out with him. You remember you hate your father. You don't want to do this." Cyborg reasoned with her.

Her face was stoic for a second as his words ran across her mind. But when she turned towards them her face was contorted with so much anger that they shrank back from her. "Shut up! Of course I want to do this. I am a demon, I live for the torment of others and power. I will gain all that at my father's side. Whether I hate him or not." She growled as she turned away from them to watch the fight.

"Hey Raven. If you help your father destroy everything, then no more stankball." Beastboy tried to coax with her, but she just turned towards him with half-lidded blank stare, much of the old Raven peeking through at that moment. "just trying to help."

"Help what? Trying to distract me from my dreams. I am a demon; this is what I truly want to do."

"Yes you are a Demon friend Raven. But you do not have to destroy and cause torment." Starfire piped in staring sorrowfully at her confused friend.

She didn't look at them as her lip curled up into a growl showing her sharp canines.

"Yeah Rae. Giving up everything you love just because that's not what demons do. So what? I'm a cyborg, and cyborgs are just supposed to do what there programmed to do. But I don't, I don't Rae. I've accepted _what_ I am without given up _who_ I am inside. I still play games, eat meat, and make up my own mind Rae. If I can do than you can do it."

"Come one Raven. You're the smartest person I know. Can't you see what's happening? You're losing yourself…and not in the good way." Beastboy chimed in, actually helpful this time.

"Raven you can fight this…you're…"

"SHUT UP!" Raven yelled angrily striking them off the pedestal with back of her hand, but before they could hit the ground she caught them each in her tendrils. "Listen." She growled as they were brought up to her face. "I'm a demon now, on my seventy-second birthday, the demon half in me overrides my mother's blood. I am full demon now. And as a full demon I denounced everything that mattered to me as a halfling. This means I am now uncaring, unloving, uncapable of being loved, and evil."

"See that's where you're wrong. You cared enough to save us from the tree, you saved us from falling to our deaths just now, and you cared enough not to openly kiss Measha while Nate was watching back then. You are not evil, you are not uncaring. We love you…you are our friend." Starfire, shockingly, argued.

"I am." Raven retorted back angrily.

"Then what's stopping you from killing us right now? If you're so angry, why aren't we dead?" Robin asked.

"Simply because I do not feel like it." She answered her face becoming calm as she lowered them back onto the pedestal.

"Wrong!" Cyborg yelled. "It's because you don't want to! You love us too and you know it! And Nate…you know how much that freak loves you! Look at him! He's out there right now fighting for your love! Fighting for you! And you're over here being to cowardice to fight for yourself!"

Raven's eyes widened a fraction of a millimeter. Before she smiled down at them, not a mocking smile or fake, just a smile. "You guys are stubborn." She said in her everyday monotone as her eyes blinked from red to black. And in the blink of an eye she was down on the pedestal along with them.

"Just wouldn't let me be would you big brother?" she asked smiling at Cyborg.

"Hey! That's what I'm here for." He said with a grin.

"Thank you." She said before giving him a kiss on his bald head. She was able to do this now for in this form, she was taller.

"Hey! Hey, I helped too! What about Beastboy?" Beastboy asked as he was suddenly by her side.

"Oh how could I forget? Thank you BB." She said sincerely as she grabbed him, both with her arms and her tendrils, and planted a big kiss on his green lips.

"Thank you all." She said as she released him to hug the rest of her teammates.

"Whoop yeah!" Beastboy shouted as he fell down dizzy.

"Now don't think you're getting anymore of those." Cyborg told his delighted green friend seriously.

"Don't care, that was worth a lifetime. I was kissed by a beautiful demon."

"That's right." Raven said with a defiant look in her four black onyx eyes. "I'm not afraid of becoming like my father anymore. I'm a Demon now, but I'm still Raven. And now there's something I must do." Turning towards the fighting boys, Raven disappeared as her tendrils closed up around her.

She reappeared in the middle of the fight, her tendrils opening up like a flower in bloom. "Stop this senseless fighting!" she yelled as a tendril grabbed each of the boys and brought them to her.

"Come here Meashale." She said in a beguiling voice as she turned towards him, just as her tendril brought him forward. Looking at him loving she cradled his head and played with his fiery hair. As they into each others eyes she brought him in for a kiss. She could hear Nate's gasp of hurt as he was forced to watch, but she ignored him this kiss was full of passion, lust, desire, and yearning. The kiss lasted for what seemed like forever, he filled her with his fiery love, but sooner or later someone was going to need air, and it wasn't going to be her.

He tried to pull away, but she had him in a steel grip and as he struggled against her mouth her tendrils came up behind him and kept him in place. He tried to get her to release him by setting her afire, but they only turned to black flames as they touched her. He couldn't breathe; he was running out of air. He looked into her face and screamed against her mouth, using up more of his precious air. While two of her eyes were closed in pleasure against the kiss, two were open and looking directly into his eyes in amusement. His scream began to diminish as he vision turned black…and then he knew no more.

"That was fun. Goodnight lover." She said emotionless as she gently laid his listless body onto the ground.

"Is he dead?" Nate asked quietly, momentarily forgetting that no one could die in the in-between.

"No. He's my soul mate. I couldn't kill if I wanted." She said wistfully as she looked upon his sleeping frame with a smile before tuning her black eyes onto Naten. "Now you're going to tell me once and for all…your highness….why did you come to the human realm."

"To find you." He said with a smile before she slapped him. "What's that for?"

"For not trusting me enough to tell me you were a Revine. And this…" here she kissed him briefly on the lips. "Is for coming after me."

"So…you're ready to love me now…love me all night long like the demon you are?" he asked with a serious smile on his face.

"Why do you always ruin the moment." She growled giving him another slap.

* * *

"So what are you going to do about him?" Beastboy asked as he pointed towards the unconscious Measha fastened securely in Raven's tendrils. 

"I don't know…I was thinking of trapping him the book with Malchior, and I'll call it _'Past Loves are Better Kept Locked Behind Pages'._" Raven answered with a smile as they all reentered the in-between tunnel.

"Malchior? Who the hell is Malchior and where is this book?" Nate asked angrily coming to a sudden halt.

"That's my business and not yours." Raven answered with a steely four eyed glare.

"I have a right to know my woman's old flames."

"I'm not your…" Raven began but her eyes widened in a moment of shock. "Trigon." She said in greeting as the four eyed red monster appeared.

"Raven." He said lowly as he ignored her companions and focused mainly on her.

All was quiet as they stared off at each other; no one made a move in fear of setting that fierce gaze onto themselves.

"Not this time." She said defiantly.

"I expected so. Meashale is not the most reliable." Trigon replied glancing momentarily at the unconscious figure in his daughter's grasp.

"Maybe in my next life time. Who knows, maybe fourth times a charm?" she said as her lip turned into a half a quarter of a smile.

"Maybe so." He agreed also giving his quarter half smile to her. "Happy Birthday…daughter."

"Thank you…father."

After there was a pause as each acknowledged each other and father and daughter, and then just as sudden as he appeared, he was gone, but not before giving a soft eyed glare to the slightly cowering Nate.

"He is frightening. He's like a bear." Nate muttered when he felt the presence of Trigon completely disperse.

"Why didn't he attack or try to take you with him?" Beastboy asked.

"And why was he so nicey nice?" Cyborg added confusion written clearly over his face.

"Because there is peace in the in-between. And demons have the most honor of all creatures. Without it we'd be just as bad as faeries." Raven said in her usual monotone.

"Fairies?" Robin asked confused.

"No, _faeries_, not fairies." Nate answered. "You don't ever want to meet a faerie. They're evil little pricks."

"Tell us later…" Cyborg said loudly. "I'm tired and I just want to get back home and crash.

"Yes…let's go home." Raven said with a smile before they entered the doorway to the human realm and sealed it closed behind. And as she set foot out of the in-between exhaustion overtook her and she feinted into Nate's waiting arms.

* * *

The next day they all celebrated Raven's birthday, during the night she had slipped back into her normal, teenage, girl form that they all knew so well. On awakening, she had retrieved Measha from the hall where everyone left him and trapped him inside the book along with Malchior. Going down stairs she was greeted by balloons, confetti, a cake and presents. Everyone was there, including Titans East, except Aqualad who had turned up missing two days ago, and other heroes they had had the pleasure of meeting, and soon they had a party going on. It was during the party that Nate sneaked her off to talk with her privately. 

"So…why am I up here on this cloud?" Raven asked Nate who sat with a serious face across from her.

"So no one could eavesdrop. I have something important to ask you?"

"Well go ahead." She told him with a small smile.

"Raven Roth…" he began as he got up and kneeled in front of her. "Raven…will you marry me?"

She was shocked for a moment; she had been expecting him to ask her out, not for her hand in marriage.

"What?" she asked bluntly not believing her ears, as she looked at him stupidly.

"Will you marry me?" He repeated with more hope.

"…no."

"What?" he asked, his turn to stare stupidly as he almost fell through the cloud.

"I said no." she repeated insolently.

"Why the hell not?" he yelled as he began to lose his temper.

"Because I don't love you." She said obviously.

"But...but...we kissed."

"I was thanking you for saving me."

"But…we cuddled. Don't you remember the cuddling?"

"I feinted and you caught me."

"But…my mother's expecting me home any day now my bride to be."

"I'm sorry but it won't be me."

"Well…well would you at least go out with me?" he said sullenly.

"That's a start. Now that…that I can do." She answered with a genuine smile.

"Are you serious?"

"Yes."

"Are you really serious or is this some cruel demon joke, because if it is…I'm going to kill something."

"Yes, now shut up and kiss me." She growled as she balled up her fist.

"I can do that." He said softly as he pulled her into his arms and kissed her firmly on the lips.

And they lived happily ever after…well until Nate got on her nerves and she dumped him 3 days later.

* * *

Just kidding. It was four.

**Fin

* * *

**

The end people. We've had a great run and now it's over. I'm thinking about making a sequel were Raven and Nate got to the Revine realm and meet his screwed up family. But it might not be out for awhile, but watch out for it, and an Aquald/Raven fic that's been floating around in my head.


	8. Chp 8 Meet the Parents: Start of pt2

_(Just When you thought it was safe to stop reading)_

Part. 2_

* * *

_

**Chp.8 Meet the Parents

* * *

**

"Please Raven." Naten begged for the umpteenth time.

"No." Raven answered in her everyday monotone.

It had been a month since Raven's birthday and everything had returned to normal. Well, almost normal. The day back from the in-between, Raven and Nate had returned to their human guises and had started to date. It didn't last long. Four days. They dated for four days before Raven dumped him. It was a harsh thing to do, especially considering how in love with her he was. _It was damn near scary_. Although it was a short time, the others titans didn't blame her. He was with her 24-7 and barely gave her time to herself. He was always trying to kiss her, and although she did allow it, he wanted to do it all the time. He wouldn't allow any of the male titans to talk to her and even gone so far as attempted murder when Speedy had hugged her at her birthday. Not to mention, which Raven never did, she would always wake up the next day with him in her bed or, _strangely_, she in his.

After the breakup, Beastboy, who had become fascinated with Raven ever since The Lost Desert, spent more time around her, attempting to flirt. Raven, who was highly amused by this, interacted with him much the same, although everyone knew, including Beastboy, that she wasn't interested. It was one of the many new traits she had acquired since accepting her Demon heritage. She had once gone so far as referring to herself as the 'Mistress of Seduction'. Completely out of character for her, and completely melting Beastboy into a puddle of goo when she said it, but she said it in her usual monotone and the rest had come to except these spontaneous saying nowadays. She was the same old Raven, just with new actions and phrases. She still thought of Beastboy's jokes as stupid.

Nate hadn't changed a bit, maybe he was a bit more obsessed with Raven now that he had a taste of what them being together was like. Even though he knew that Raven wasn't interested, Nate had developed an extreme dislike for the changeling. Besides that ,the only difference was in his appearance. Something even his human guise couldn't conceal. The scar he received from fighting Meashale, Raven's mate, in the in-between. The scar ran from the middle of his forehead, to the bridge of his nose, over his right eye, across the right cheek, and down the side of his neck.

"Hey Beastboy, you want to die?" Nate suddenly asked as he realized that Beastboy's head was in Raven's lap.

Beastboy didn't seem to hear him as he was smiling blissfully as the _'Mistress of Seduction'_ played with his hair.

"Didn't you hear me? Oh, okay, _you got 5 seconds_. 1…"

"I'm thirsty." Raven said suddenly not bothering to look up at anyone as she continued to read her book and play in Beastboy's hair.

"You got it love." Nate announced chirpily as he completely forgot about Beastboy and bounded off to the kitchen.

"You ought not do that to him Rae." Cyborg said from midst his video gaming.

"Keeps him busy." She answered before Nate arrived next to her with a cup of tea.

"Now that I've brought you your tea, will you finally come meet my parents for me?" Nate pleaded hopefully.

"No."

"WHY THE HELL NOT RAVEN!" Nate yelled angrily as a violent wind swept through the tower, effectively sending Beastboy flying from Raven's lap, the cup of tea to explode,and Cyborg sliding across the floor. Raven, seemingly unaffected, ignored him completely as she continued to read.

"Because," she finally said after he had calmed down a bit, "you come from the realm of the Revines and they kill Demons on sight."

"Is that it? My people aren't that merciless. They do not kill on sight…they go through a trial then we kill them, but you don't have the aura of a demon, you have the aura of a sorceress, and you smell like one too. You smell like spells, dust, lilac, and jasmine. The combination of sexy. _Adour de Sexy_." Here he stopped ranting and smelled her arm dreamily. "You sexy, gray skin lady with the sexy body, you. You're just plain sexy. Sexy eyes, sexy hair, sexy arms, sexy hands, sexy...feet. I ought just…" not finishing his sentence his leant in to kiss her, but she held her hand up just in time to stop him.

"I'll think about it."

"Think about...what now? Sex with me…or something else that I can't…remember right now."

Giving him a bored look she pushed him away before morphing into the couch.

"So? Is that a yes?" he asked aloud as he turned towards Cyborg, who had returned to his spot accompanied by Beastboy.

They ignored him as a giant shadowed hand emerged from the ceiling and slapped him across the room.

"Does that answer your question?" Cyborg and Beastboy said at the same time.

* * *

"Are you ready now?" Raven asked for the umpteenth time that morning. It had been two weeks since she decided to go with the Revine, but here they were, still at the tower.

"Ye…no…I don't …maybe." Not being able to make up his mind, Nate slammed his head down on the counter and began beating it against it.

"What's so damn hard about this decision Naten?" Raven, finally frustrated, yelled at her ex-boyfriend.

"I don't want to go home!" Nate cried aloud as he stopped banging his head on the table and threw his arms around Raven to pull her into his embrace. "I love my family but they're nuts. Do you know how many of them are _actually_ insane?"

"No but I'm sure you're going to tell me/WHY MUST YOU BE SO STRONG?" Raven growled as she tried to free herself from Nate's grip.

"I don't even know, they keep popping up everywhere! There's my mom for starts, Queen Huma, Lady of Earth! My cousin Mar, Lord of Speed, my aunt Fera on my dad's side, Lady of Beasts, my little sister Elucida, Lady of Light, and not mention my slightly homicidal, older, cousin Lethar, Lord of sleep…"

"Wait, wait, wait…Leth is your cousin?" recognition dawned on Raven's face at the sound of that name. "Lethar _'The Dreamer'_ is your cousin?"

"Yeah that what's he's called? You _know him_?" confused, Nate stopped crying and looked at Raven curiously.

"Know him? We use to talk all the time in Dormito."

"That son-of-a-bitch moving in on my woman!" Angry, Nate hopped up from the counter, periodically throwing Raven to the floor as he did so, and stalked back and forth in an angry temper.

"_Your _woman?" Raven demanded stiffly as she pulled herself up.

"Wait til I see that bastard again! _I'll kill him_!" Nate continued, ignoring Raven completely as he fumbled with something inside his shirt. "I've told them all years ago that you were my wife and he still tries to get him."

"Years ago?"

"You know what? Let's go now! Let's go see our old friend _Lethar_!" pulling an amulet in the shape of a sword from his shirt, he hastily stuck it into the empty air in front of him and turned it like a key. Hearing something click he pulled on the key and opened a door in the middle of the room that led to an undecipherable place with blinding white light. Wasting no time he jumped into it and closed the door behind him.

"Does he know he left you?" Robin asked after a while. He had only just arrived and saw Nate's departure.

"No, but I'm sure it'll come to him later." Raven answered in her monotone voice as she began sipping her desregarded tea, and picked up her book.

"How did you get him to leave in the first place?" Beastboy asked as he and the rest arrived.

"I told him about an old friend of mine, who just so happens to be his cousin. So he went to kill him."

"Oh is that all? I thought it was something serious." Cyborg said as he sat next to her at the counter

"So…_Raven_?" Beastboy asked as he sidled up to her. "Since loverboy isn't here...you….want to…you know…maybe…go out…you know…to the city…you know…_with me_?"

Putting her book down, she looked him dead in the eye with a bored look, while he just smiled hopefully. "…Sure, and if you're good maybe I'll wear something that'll me you sweat." This she whispered seductively.

Smiling goofily Beastboy hobbled off on wobbly legs yelling in victory.

"Sounds great Rae, where we going?" Cyborg added loud enough that Beastboy would know he had no intention of letting him get alone with Raven.

"WHAT! Come on Cy man, don't do this to me!" Beastboy pleaded mournfully falling to his knees at Cyborg's feet.

"BB! She doesn't like you! She's just playing with you! She's leading you on with false pretenses and once she gets tired of you she will most likely laugh scornfully at your emotions and break your heart! Or something along those lines." Cyborg told the little changeling, trying to reason with him.

"It's true." Raven agreed from her book.

"And your point is?" said Beastboy with a raised eyebrow.

"I tried." Sighed Cyborg with a huff. "Go for it little man."

"YES!"

"But I'm still coming along."

"DUDE!"

* * *

"What happened?" Robin asked unenthusiastically as he saw Raven and Cyborg enter the room with Beastboy lying unconscious on Cyborg's shoulder.

"Ask her." Cyborg said with a sigh.

"Raven, what did you do?"

"I almost kissed him." Raven answered with a small smile as she passed them up, heading towards the stairs.

"She seduced him into a coma that's what?"

"Raven," Robin sighed, "I think you should stop. You'll only end up hurting him."

Stopping in her tracks, Raven slowly let her hood down and turned back towards him with an enticing look. "He was warned…_dear Robin_." The boys were speechless, for a moment there; they had been hearing and looking at the demon Raven from 'The Lost Desert'.

"Uh…Rae?" Cyborg called after her.

"I'll be in my room if you need me. And _don't_ need me." Pulling her hood back up, Raven soon disappeared into the darkness of the stairs.

* * *

"Will he be…alright?" Starfire asked Robin worriedly as they all gathered around the unconscious Beastboy.

"I don't know Star, he was hit pretty hard." Robin answered slowly.

"Poke him." Raven suggested.

"I've seen this before!" Cyborg blurted out lifting up the object that had rendered his teammate unconscious.

"What is it?" Robin asked, looking up from poking Beastboy with a stick.

"I don't know, but this looks like that thing that had Rae and Meashale freaking out last month." Holding the sphere in his hands, Cyborg dropped it in fright once it began to glow.

"I did not freak out….much." Raven muttered darkly taking the ball from Cyborg and levitating it in front of herself. "It's a Revine messenger crystal."

"Who's it from? Nate?" Cyborg asked.

"Maybe I should check the return address." She answered with a small smile.

"Was that sarcasm?"

"Yes it was."

"_Oh_. So there's no…"

"No there isn't. We'll know who it's from whenever it activates." Just as the words left her mouth, the crystal began glowing and soon Nate, in his Revine form, was standing in the room with them.

"Raven! I'm so sorry I left you. I was just in a hurry and I forgot and then I got _here_ and they took the key away from me and I couldn't come back and I STILL LOVE YOU!" The last part came out loudly as a golden blur knocked him out of sight. There was the sound of struggling in the background as the Titans looked at each other confusedly. "Ahh, my god, I thought I locked you up!" Nate screamed.

"HI!" a little golden haired, with big Revine ears,girl yelled as she suddenly appeared, making the titans jump in fright. "I'm Elucida or, Lady of Light, whichever you prefer." Elucida looked to be about 7 or 8. She had gleaming, golden hair that reached to her lower back, wide, amber eyes, and tawny skin. She shined brightly with a dazzling gold light. Her body, like Nate's, was covered in markings, but where Nate's where silver, hers were white.

"Which one of you is Raven? Naten put wards around his room so I forgot how you look. So which one are you?" Elucida asked peering at them closely.

"I am." Raven told her as her friends pointed her out unnecessarily.

Elucida gazed at Raven for a long time without saying anything. "You're GRAY!" the little girl suddenly blurted making the titans' face fault.

"LUCI!" Nate yelled, using his powers to throw his sister out of the scene. "How dare you talk to my woman like that! I should have dropped you off the cliff 15 years ago like I promised you!" Nate, ignoring them, walked into and out of view as he chased his sister down. Soon after the scene was flooded with a bright white light, followed by Nate's scream of pain. "My eyes! I can't see! Just wait till I find you, I'm going to bite you!"

"Luci, tone it down, dear." A new voice commanded gently.

"Sorry mother." Elucida called out as the light died out, showing the titans the body that went with the new voice. She was a tall, thin lady, with a russet complexion, wild green hair, and vivid green eyes.

"So you're Raven." The lady said with a smile, looking at Raven with adoration. "It's so nice to finally meet you face-to-face. It'll be even betterin person.After all these years it seems like I know you. With my little boy talking about you so much, for so long, we all couldn't wait to finally meet you. Ever since he was 32 that's all we've been hearing. Raven this, Raven that."

"32, he told us he was 50 when he first found out about Rae." Cyborg interrupted.

"50?" The queen laughed.

"Yeah, he said that you and his father pressured him into finding a wife because you didn't need a bachelor on the throne."

"His father and I are _far_ from retiring. He's still a juvenile. His _room_ is still juvenile. It's covered in tapestries, paintings, and sculptures of Raven. He still plays with dolls for goodness sake." Here she leaned in close and whispered, "more like _a_ doll. It's a large doll with purple hair named 'Raven'."

"Mom!" a voice yelled from behind her.

Turning stiff, the queen slowly turned to the side to reveal a purple faced Naten. "What? Not like you still have it."

"Hi I'm Raven Doll," Luci appeared at the queen's elbow with a life-like doll that looked exactly like Raven except it was wearing a wedding dress. "I missed you so much Nate while you were gone. Did you miss me?"

"Nice." Raven said sarcastically with a look of disgust.

"So your room there looks exactly like the one here?_ Maybe even worse?_" Beastboy, who had regained consciousness halfway between the queen's embarrassing revelations, blurted out.

"Most likely." The queen answered for him.

"Mom!" Nate yelled, while periodically punching his sister and rescuing Raven Doll, "Did you tell them EVERYTHING?"

"I didn't tell them you thought you were gay for three years."

"Whoa." Robin managed to say into the silence that reigned after that exposure.

"And then it all comes out." Cyborg commented.

"Dude…DUDE!" was all Beastboy managed to say.

"That's it…" Nate growled after a while, "I'm running away."

"What?" the queen called out as Nate ran out of the scene, "NOT AGAIN! You are not running away again, I FORBID IT!"

"COOL!" Luci yipped happily, taking over the scene as the queen ran off after Nate. "Hey Raven are you still coming" The little girl asked excitedly.

"I don't know." Raven answered honestly.

"If you do, bring someone you hate…_I need to start killing_." The last part, she said quietly as her glow dimmed down low.

"Oh my god." Raven breathed out unbelievably.

"Everyone else has killed, _I want to kill_." By now the little girl had taken on a seriously creepy voice while her glow shadowed her features, making her look even creepier.

"_Luci_, what are you doing?" a deep voice asked off scene.

"I'm going to kill myself mom! Then you can do whatever you want! How do you like that?" Nate could be heard yelling.

"Nothing daddy." Elucida told him cheerfully as the perky little girl replaced the homicidal child they had recently encountered.

"Naten, you hurt mommy when you talk that way? Naten? NATEN! I AM YOUR MOTHER AND I WILL BURY YOU INTHE WALLTO KEEP YOU HERE!"

"Luci," a commanding, yet gentle voice said, as a man came up to stand next to Elucida, "go drink your juice sweetie."

"I don't want to daddy…_it makes me sleepy_."

"I know, but its grape today."

Gasping, Elucida's eyes went wide with excitement, "I love grape." She whispered before bound off.

"Sorry about that." The man apologized, "she hasn't been the same since Nate convinced her she could fly." Sighing once, he cleared his throat and smiled warmly at Raven. "So, you still coming?" the man said in his great voice, making it sound more like a statement than a question.

"Tomorrow?" Raven found herself saying.

"Great." He said with a quirky smile that, if she had less self control, would have made Raven blush.

"Oh, where are my manners?" the man said with laugh, "I am Welkis, Lord of the Sky, and King of the Revine Realm." Welkis was tall, broad, and muscular. His hair was short cropped and white, his eyes were a dazzling sky blue, his markings were reddish-pink, and his skin was dusky.

"Mom, let me go!" they heard Nate yell.

"Not till you promise never to leave me again, or just until I'm old and senile and can't decipher you from a rock!"

"And I'm sure you've met my wife, Queen Huma, Lady of Earth." Here Welkis had the nerve not to look embarrassed.

"We've met." Raven answered.

"Well," Welkis said loudly as noises and crashes tried to drown him out. "I'll let you go so nothing else can happen to change your mind. Until tomorrow…Milady." With a final bow, the Titan tower was silent as their connection to the Revine realm was cut off.

"WELL!" Cyborg said loudly into the silence as he clapped his hands together and turned towards Raven. "Enjoy them!"

"Yeah, Rae good luck." Beastboy added as they began to depart the room.

"Have fun with that bunch." Robin put in.

Last to come was Starfire, who simply stood in front of Raven with a sympathetic look. "Just remember, friend Raven, it is not always cowardice to run while you still have time."

"Thanks guys." Raven said blandly to the now empty room.


	9. Chp 9 Raven of My Dream

**IMPORTANT/FUTURE OF STORY: **

Lately, I have been thinking of **discontinuing **my **fics**.

I just haven't been in a writing mood lately. Every time I start, I get discouraged and sidetracked. I'm either using my time for my artwork, or I'm working on my original stories, and I find myself just wanting to stop fanficiton.

At first I was just planning of going on a hiatus, but the more I think about it, the more I like the idea of just stopping. But I will not be deleting my stories off the site or off my computer, for I may comeback one day. But until then...it was nice writing for you.

_Courtney _

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* * *

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**Chp. 9 Raven of my Dreams**

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* * *

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**"So you sure you want to go through with this?" Cyborg asked her for the umpteenth time that day.

"I have to. I have to meet that family up close and personal." Raven informed him as she went about the living room, moving things out the way so they wouldn't be affected by her spell. "Besides…doing this will ensure our safety from my Uncle Cyrus for at least 12 years."

"Don't ask." She informed him before he could open his mouth. "Just trust me, he'll stay away if I do this, you don't want him here."

"I'll take your word for it."

"Best decision you'll ever make. Now stand back." She ordered as she spread her arms wide and her eyes glowed white.

Moving back, Cyborg watched as Raven's lithe body rose into the air and spewed a soft light from her robes. The small light floated to the middle of the room and began to expand, showing, in its center, the In-Between.

Sighing and stretching, Raven floated back down and surveyed her work with a satisfied smile. "Right, well I'll be off then, but I thought the other guys would be here to see me go."

"They wanted too, but someone has to restrain Beastboy from jumping in there with you. But we figured I'd be enough of a farewell party."

"Of course you are." She told him before giving him an uncharacteristic hug and surprising him.

"A hug?"

"For moral support." She answered in her monotone as she sauntered over to the portal. "I'm about to meet a tribe of Naten's, I'll need it."

"Bring me back a souvenir." He called out as he watched her jump into the portal and disappear along with it.

"Just come back." He muttered into the silent room.

Sighing once, he spoke into the two-way radio on his arm. "Okay...you can let him go now. She's gone." Following his statement, he heard a pair of sighs of relief and the heartbroken wail of a changeling.

* * *

"Look before you leap…_look before you leap_. You knew that, yet you still ended up screwing yourself." Raven muttered to herself as she climbed down from the tree she had landed in. After jumping into her portal, Raven had found herself in the middle of a stifling jungle with a stick in her back. 

"Well at least I'm in the right place." She said aloud to herself after noticing the slight buzzing in her head. "Revine frequency. They're definitely around, just none close enough to help me out."

While pulling bits and pieces of twigs and leaves from her hair and clothes, Raven thought over her situation. She was lost in an anti-demon realm, the Revine frequency was giving her a headache, and she didn't really want to be here. Well at least the air was clean and…and…and she couldn't think of anything else.

"I'm going to have a lovely time here," she thought aloud. "I guess the first thing to do is get my bearings." She flew upward, intent on breaking through the thick canopy and getting a look at the land beyond the forest. But before she could reach the green foliage above, he was there.

She heard someone scream, and she wasn't sure if it had been her or him when she fell. All she knew for sure was how real the pain was. Back in the human realm, she had felt the pain of the Revine frequency against her demon aura, but that had only been a messenger orb. This was different, the pain was worse, more intense, this was a full blooded Revine in the flesh, and his sudden appearance made it even worse. The pain just hit her head on instead of gradually intensifying.

She felt her body morphing from demon to human, but she couldn't do anything to stop it. The pain was unbearable; she could feel it in her hair, behind her eyes, and even her fingernails. She felt as if she was being split in two…and she felt herself getting angry. But just as sudden as it started it stopped. There were no after effects, the pain was just gone. For a second, she had to think if she had felt any pain at all.

"A demon." She heard him say. She froze; though the voice didn't sound hostile, merely curious, she couldn't be too careless.

When the man made no further commotion, she slowly opened her eyesto lay her sights on her so-called attacker. If she had been the kind of girl to gasp and swoon at the sight of a hot guy, she would have. But she wasn't, so she didn't

Where Naten was cute and well built, this guy was lean and sexy. He was tall with the muscles of a pro-baseball player. He had sandy-brown hair, white at the base and large Revine ears. He crouched next to her, shirtless, wearing a white and gold loincloth made from expensive silk materials, which showed off his highly muscled, powerful legs. He looked at her curiously with a face that looked as if it always maintained a smirk. His markings, unlike Nate's, whose were wavy and white, contrasted against his pale skin in scratchy looking horizontal designs of yellow.

Keeping a wary eye on him, she rose to her feet, and on seeing her rise, he smiled broadly and stood up also. Eyeing her hungrily, he circled her once and whistled.

"Haven't seen a demon in years." He told her as he walked, "Let alone…a female as beautiful as you."

Raven, who hadn't been moving, froze up. What was it with her and Revines? She knew she wasn't ugly, but there was a limit.

"Will you stop eyeing me like a piece of veal?" She growled in annoyance as he circled her for the fifth time.

He stopped in front of her when she said this and his smile dropped for half a second before he was grinning again. "My apologies my lovely demoness."

"Raven." She corrected him, "My name's Raven."

He studied her a moment. "My apologies again. Dear Lady of Ravens, let me introduce myself. I am Mar, Lord of speed, Prince Marius to my subjects, Prince Marius of the Revine Realm. And it is my utmost pleasure to meet you." He said with a flourish as he grabbed her hand and kissed the back of it with a bow.

She smiled at his suavely produced act, and seeing it his grinned broadened. Giving him her male-melting smile, of which Beastboy was a constant victim, she brought her hand from his grasp and ran it softly up his arm to caress his cheek, and as he leaned in to it, her smile dropped and she grabbed the back of his hair and pulled him to her.

"Hey, you're kind of strong." He muttered painfully as he fell to his knees.

"First off," she began in her monotone voice, "I am not Lady of Ravens, My name is Raven, Mistress of Seduction if you're good, and secondly, you are not the prince. Naten is the prince and I am here visiting with him, but I've gotten lost. So to avoid annoying me further, you either get lost or take me to him. Okay?"

"Got you." he answered as she let him go. "You're feisty…I like that." He growled suggestively at her, but seeing her face his smile dropped and so did the suaveness of his voice, which was now coming out like a current that had been currently blocked.

"So you're Raven. Finally get to meet you in person." Gesturing for her to follow him, Mar began to guide her out of the forest. "Always knew he'd find you, just didn't know you'd actually fall for him in turn."

"I didn't", was what she was about to say, but before she could open her mouth, Mar had a sudden mood swing.

"I can't take it anymore!" He suddenly yelled in a rush of words that swept by so fast Raven had a hard time catching it all.

She stopped dead in her tracks and looked wide eyed at him.

His smiled broadened to an unbelievable rate and he began hopping high into the air. "This is a record though." He laughed as he turned to face her, but the next thing she knew he was five feet behind her.

"I mean, five minutes, at inferior, I mean _normal_ speed." Hopping around excitedly, he suddenly appeared directly in her face for a second, and before she could react, he was 10 feet away…up in a tree.

"Mother would be so proud." He said at inferior, I mean at a slower pace. "You have got to meet my mother." He stated from another tree, "Fera…Lady of Beasts…you'll love her."

"Oh, I'm sorry," he apologized from directly behind her, "I was suppose to take you to Naten. Alright follow me." And before she knew it, Mar was gone. Kicking up a trail of leaves, debris, and small creatures in his wake.

"Oh Azarath what have I gotten myself into." Raven muttered to herself.

"A world of wonder." Mar announced in a charming whisper as he reappeared behind her and scooped her into his arms. "You know, destiny isn't written in stone. Aunt Fassy told me that herself."

"What are you talking about?" Raven asked him while he was still calm.

Saying nothing, he looked into her eyes longingly, before smiling broadly. "Hold on." He warned her before taking off.

Raven had prepared herself to go fast, but this was insane. With her arms around his neck, she held on tightly to him with her eyes screwed shut at first, but upon peeping out for a glimpse of her fate, she saw his smug smirk and she calmed herself down and loosened her grip in rebellion.

In front of them, she saw everything flying at her, at a dangerous rate, but once she stared long enough and focused, things seemed slower and she could make out the oncoming land before they were upon it, and past it, in the next second. Looking down towards the ground, she was disheartened to find that Mar moved so fast that his legs were unseen. The scenery around them was beyond psychedelic, it was down right creepy, the colors blended together so much that they sometimes even formed unreal pictures. Pictures of random things, pictures of other unbelievable places.

"Yeah," Mar said sheepishly after noticing her looking at the surroundings, "my speed kind of disrupts the boundaries of space."

"So…" Raven began.

"Yeah, they're real. When I run, I see other realms, other universes, other times, realities, whatever, it was formidable as a child, but I got used to it. I can't go into them and they can't come out. Uh-OH!" he suddenly barked.

"What?" Raven asked worriedly.

"Where the hell did that cliff come from?" Mar laughed hysterically, never slowing his pace.

Raven didn't find this amusing, nor did she found it funny when they went over. Now she wasn't the type of girl to overreact, she didn't scream her head off if a bug landed on her, she didn't giggle whenever a cute boy walked by, and she didn't fall in love with every pair of shoes her size, but she did scream this time. Come on, she was in a strange land, falling off an impossibly large cliff, with a black water lake far below with large rocks jutting out from its depths randomly across its' surface.

"In my ear. Really, could you scream any louder?"

Looking up to glare at him, Raven found herself no longer in the safety of his arms but free falling while he ran along side her down the cliff.

"Yeah." She muttered angrily. "AZARATH METRI-OOMPH!"

Before she could finish her incantation, they were almost at the bottom, and with a sudden burst of speed, Mar had reached the water and had skimmed across to catch her before she hit. He now ran, laughing loudly, across the lakes surface, barely making a ripple as he ran, but leaving a massive splash a few yards behind him.

"You think you're funny don't you?" Raven managed to say after as pause and they were now back onto dry land.

"No. I think you think I think I'm funny. Which I do, but I also think you think I think you think…_think you…uhm…think..._Hey watch this!" Mar yelled after a pause before he put on another burst of speed.

After a while, or what seemed, of endless lightening speed, Raven had to admit to herself, she was having a good time. That is, was. Just as she about to laugh, the pain hit her again. She wasn't sure if the sudden presence of the Revine was from her and Mar running up on them or if they had spontaneously appeared.

'_This_,' she thought angrily as she held in the scream that threatened to erupt from her throat, _'is going to get old fast.'_

"Flora!" she heard Mar yell as he set her down, into what felt like, a grassy field.

"What…Hey…you found a wife?" She heard the other Revine yell happily in a feminine voice, before the pain vanished. Like before, the pain vanished without a trace, and with an annoyed huff she got to her feet. Only to find no one around.

"Oh…oh I hate this." she muttered as she looked around.

"Can't you stand to be without me for a second?"

Raven stilled at his voice, and despite herself, she was smiling as she turned to face the smirking Mar and his companion.

Standing next to him, with a delighted smile was a very short girl with multi-colored hair of yellow and orange. Her skin was dark with a purple sheen, and her eyes were a vibrant, electric yellow. She wore a skirt, made from, what looked like, a yellow tulip, and her top was made from various flowers, all ranging from yellow to red to orange. Her markings were small flowers petal like symbols that contrasted in gold against her dark skin.

"Hi…"the flowered maiden said delightfully as she hopped over to where Raven stood and embracing her in a hug. "It's nice to meet you. I'm Flora…Lady of Flowers, and Marius's sister. Let me just say, you two make a wonderful couple and I can't wait for the nieces and nephews."

Raven gaped openly at Flora's assumption and at Revine's in general, and glared at the smirking Mar, who wasn't bothering to correct his sister, and was in fact, waggling his eyebrows suggestively. She opened her mouth to argue, but Flora had already started talking again.

"It's about time, Marius found a bride, and I'm sure you'll make him very happy. Marius has told me that you have a problem with Revine frequency, so that means you're a demon, and don't worry, I'm not prejudice against demon, not many around here are, but I just have one question: What type of demon are you? Because I see antlers, I'm thinking dear demon, but I also see these lovely black…tentacles?"

At first, Raven wasn't sure what she was talking about, but as Flora continued to inquire on her origins, she pointed to them, and Raven finally noticed that she had morphed. She was about to change back, when Flora had asked about her extra limbs. She nodded yes. They were her appendages, but who was she to argue when they looked like tentacles?

"Tentacles, and I think: octopus, but then, there are you four lovely onyx eyes, which I envy, and I think: insect. So what kind are you, or are you just one of those grotesque multi/hybrid demons?"

"I must say," Mar announced, as he leant on Flora's shoulder and cocked his head at her. "You are quite sexier this way."

"Thanks." she said dryly to him, but in a softer tone, she turned to Flora as she changed back. "I'm a demon of shadows, and I'm not Mar's bride, I'm here for Nate. Since I don't know where the palace might be, Mar was taken me there. And seeing as he had no qualms about leading you on about he and I, I have to wonder if he was kidnapping me or not." As she said this, Mar grinned broadly, and she had no doubts that he had been.

"Oh." Flora said disappointedly, but she brightened a second later. "Do you have any brothers?"

"No."

"Oh…too bad" this time, Flora didn't cheer up immediately. "So Renatenial finally found you?"

"Who?" Raven asked confused.

"Naten's full name, lovely." Mar answered for her, and she didn't know whether to laugh or pity her friend.

"He was quite determined to find you." Here Flora sighed and gave Raven a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "Don't worry, I'll send word to the palace that you're coming, so if you don't make it…they'll know who had you." Smiling once more sadly, flowers seemed to sprout from her body, until she couldn't be seen. And as fast as they appeared, they fell to the ground, and no Flora could be seen.

"Such a dramatic. S_o if you don't make it…they'll know who had you…j_ust because she's everyone's favorite, she thinks she knows everything. I would've let you go." Muttering angrily about his sister he made to pick Raven up again, but she stopped him with a push of her hand.

"Take me to Nate." She told him firmly.

"Fine…" he said after a pause, "...be like that." Muttering to himself, Mar grabbed Raven around the waist and took off running as fast as he could…in the opposite direction they had come.

* * *

Now that he was officially taking her to the palace, they made it there in no time. 

Mar had briefly stopped on top of a large hill and pointed out the castle to her. It wasn't much of a place, until she notice that Mar was pointing upward, and the castle floated upon a floating cliff. She didn't notice that she and Mar had moved until the castle was looming above her.

"How are we going to get up there?" Raven asked. She knew how she could get up, but to her, speed had nothing to do with flying.

"Didn't I tell you, I'm not only the Lord of Speed, but I'm also the Lord of the Incredibly High Jumping Talent." Mar told her with a smile as he finally came to the lake under the castle and leaped high into the air, and for a second, Raven thought they were going to make it, but just as she thought it, a force began to press down on them.

"What is that?" Raven grunted as the pressure got stronger.

"I…forgot…to tell you…" Mar blurted sheepishly.

"What?"

"I'm…" he tried to get the words out, but their ascent had finally come to a halt, and for a moment the pressure was gone. "Yeah…I'm not really allowed…well…I'm not really _wanted_ at the palace."

"Fine time to tell me." Raven managed to mumble before the pressure was back and swatting them to the ground like an annoying fly.

They landed on the ground in a painful heap, just barely missing the lake. Unfortunately, Mar landed atop of her…and…well he was a large male and therefore…had broken her body.

"This day…could not possibly get any worse." Raven muttered as she pushed the laughing boy off of her, and hit him when he continued to laugh. "It's not funny."

"Yes it is, and lucky you…but I happen to have a charm to get pass that Marius hating spell." Mar told her cheerfully as he hopped to his feet and helped her up. "It's back at my place, so if we'd just…"

As he made a move to pick her up, Raven took the chance float out of his reach.

"She can fly!" he said loudly in astonishment as he looked up at her with his hands on his hips, looking like Peter Pan.

"Yes she can, and she will be flying the rest of the way up to the palace herself."

"So, you won't be coming home with me to get my pass?" He asked hopefully.

"No." Raven smiled down at him.

"Oh…yeah, well tell my kin I said hello, won't you?" he requested with a somber expression.

"Sure thing." She agreed before he sped away, and she flew upward.

* * *

The first thing she noticed was how big the castle was. From below it hadn't looked so grand, but now that she was, infact floating above it, it was huge. She had flown up behind the castle, so she immediately saw the immense garden that grew there. A small grove of trees grew on each side, leading up to the front of the castle. 

She had to circle it twice, before she saw anyone. The castle doors, well the ones she could see, were not solid, and it harbored large windows that had no glass, so she was surprised that she couldn't see anyone. But her second time to circle, she had barely caught the glimpse of someone walking away from the window at the front of the castle.

She landed outside the doors, thinking that she wouldn't make a first great impression if she flew in through the window. The doors were sitting open and not knowing whether to knock or not anyway, she simply walked in. First thing to gain her attention were four thrones directly up ahead. To either side of the room, a grand staircase spiraled upward to a balcony ledge with a large portrait of Naten, his mother, father, and little sister. She didn't notice the man pacing in front of the thrones until he was calling her name.

"RAVEN!" Nate yelled exuberantly as he ran to embrace her.

She waited patiently for him to crush her ribs, but before he could reach her he suddenly slammed into the floor, and that's when she noticed the diamond chain attached to his foot, leading to one of the huge pillars scattered throughout the court room.

"What are you…"

"Raven…" he called out to her again as he sat up and began pulling on the chain, and from the looks of his hands she could tell he had been at it for a while. "…quick! Help me out before…"

His words were drowned out by a clap of thunder, which made Raven jump in surprise and right into the arms of Welkis.

"Dad!" Nate yelled urgently as he continuously attempted to get to Raven, only to have the chain trip and yank him back down. "Dad! Don't touch her! Get away!" he yelled in between falling.

"I was merely steadying her." Welkis answered him in a voice that suggested Nate needed to be talked to slowly. "He is such an insecure boy." This, Welkis directed at the blushing Raven, but he had the decency not to notice.

"I'm not insecure!" Nate yelled, "I just want this chain off. Can you help me?"

"Now, Nate, you know your mother put that on for a reason, I would not feel comfortable interfering."

"Oh, yeah right! You just think it's funny." Nate grumbled as he continued to fight the chain.

Raven stood and watched this with mixed emotions: she was extremely uncomfortable, she wasn't sure if it was healthy to chain your son to a pillar, and she just knew something bad was about to happen.

"Oh there you are! Come on down and greet Raven!" at hearing Welkis's booming voice behind her, Raven turned around to see him meeting Huma at the stairway and taking Luci from her arms. As a group they all came over, all smiling, but none more than Huma.

"Oh! It's wonderful having you here dear." Huma gushed, as she pulled Raven into a hug, before pushing her back and putting her hands on her shoulders to give her scrutinizing look. "Let me get a good look at you."

Raven felt like a dog at a dog show. '_If she forces my mouth open to look at my teeth…I'm going to bite her hand off.'_ Raven thought as Huma looked her up and down and kneaded her face.

Huma, to her credit, stopped the scrutinizing there and smiled happily at her. "You have gorgeous bone structure. You two are going to give be some beautiful grandchildren. So when did you plan on having the wedding?" Huma asked with a smile, and standing behind her, Welkis, with Luci on his back, smiled expectantly.

Raven opened her mouth to finally correct everyone, when a loud crash interrupted her. Turning to investigate, she saw that Nate had finally managed to free himself, and though the chain still remained attached to him, the pillar was not much of a pillar now but more of a pile of rocks.

"Uhh…we…we haven't decided yet." He announced as he made his way over to them, his eyes locked onto Raven, who glared at him reproachfully.

"Haven't decided?" Huma asked, in an almost scandalized voice.

"But…uh…don't worry mother we…"

"Are not getting married." Raven interrupted.

A pregnant pause followed her statement, where everyone processed what she said.

"What do you mean? What does she mean Nate? Not getting married? My dear, I do not know how they do it in human world or demon world, but here…when two people love each other, they marry then mate for life or until death and then give me lots of grandchildren…so…"

"But I don't love him…well not in the way that he wants."

"Oh this is going to get good." Luci said from her position on her father's back.

"Nate?" Huma asked in desperation as she turned to her silent son, and for a moment Raven regretted announcing it like that…but only for a moment.

"Yeah…I'm working on that…I'm going to marry her…she just doesn't want to admit it."

"Hmm." Huma muttered through pursed lips. "that means we're going to have to keep this underwraps or else we're going to have an epidemic."

"Epidemic? Don't you think you're over exaggerating?" Raven asked.

"By all means no." Huma answered, giving her a small smile. "It's just…with you two not being…engaged," here she choked on the word. "We…well let's just say to keep this a secret until later okay?"

"Too late!" they heard someone yell from one of the many windows.

Turning to investigate, they saw a broadly grinning Mar.

"Oh dear." Huma muttered.

"Oh dear in deed." Welkis added with a mischievous smile.

"Mar!" Nate yelled urgently as he jumped in front of Raven, attempting to block her from view. But Mar, at superior speed, bum-rushed him, effectively knocking him a few feet away, and enveloped Raven in an embrace, before letting go and holding her hands for a kiss.

She did nothing but stare wide-eyed at him.

"You are the answers to my prayers." He said huskily.

Raven almost blushed…almost, and a second later Mar was gone, probably dodging the attack Nate had thrown at him, and reappeared next to Queen Huma.

"Dear Aunty Hum." He greeted, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek before zipping over to Welkis and patting him on the back. "Uncle Welky, and dear little cousin Luci," here he gave her a peck on the cheek too and she grinned mischievously at him, looking identical to her father.

"You're going to tell aren't you?" she asked with a giggle.

"Dear, cousin…I'm telling everybody. Farewell family!" he announced loudly. Turning to Raven, he began to make an attempt her way, but after seeing that Nate had her protectively in his arms, he frowned before running and disappearing out the door, but not before a final goodbye. "Till next time dear Lady Raven."

"He's going to tell! Welkis do something!" Huma ordered frantically as she tuned to her husband.

Welkis looked at her blankly…for a while…without blinking…it started to creep Raven out. Huma sighed and turned her back on her husband, who grinned broadly at her defeated posture. "You're not going to do anything are you?"

"I think," Welkis began, making Huma turn to him excitedly, "…I need a nap. You ready for a nap Luci?"

"Not really, I want to watch what happens." The little golden child replied.

"Too bad, it's time for juice." And with his glowering daughter in tow, Welkis departed the room, humming softly to himself.

"Why did I ever agree to marry him?" Huma muttered to herself as she followed, but she stopped in front of Nate and Raven.

Nate, who had yet to relinquish his hold on Raven, growled. "Thanks a lot, FATHER!" he yelled angrily, but then much quieter he turned to his mother. "It's about to happen again isn't it?"

Smiling sympathetically at her son, Huma patted him on the head and wrenched Raven from his grasp.

"What's about to happen to me?" Raven asked nervously. She wasn't sure what '_it'_ was that Nate spoke of, but she knew it had something to do with her.

"Dear," Huma began with a small smile, "…you are about to become very popular."

Raven looked up into her face for more information, but Huma never gave it up as she escorted Raven up the stairs. Desperate, she looked to Nate, but he was watching her with worry on his face and murder in his eyes.

* * *

**Briezee**: Guess what everyone, I love Bum-rushings! I'm going to do it more often. That is all. 

P.S.

**I'm an aspiring artist, I have a link to my art in my bio, and I've drawn some of my characters, so if you would like a visual of what they look like...check out my bio.**


	10. Chp 10 Relations

**Chp. 10 Relations**

* * *

Huma lead Raven up the stairs and down a long hall filled with portraits of, to Raven, the most bizarre looking people she could imagine. She never saw any likeness among any and wondered if they were just random pictures.

Finally, after many twists and turns, they arrived at a set of wide, white doors that reached the ceiling and were covered in many different designs of trees, mountains, and all kinds of different landscapes.

"Here we are, Dear, your room." With a gesture of her hands, the doors opened to reveal a room of immense size. Too big, Raven decided once she entered it. It was set in black and white. Everything from the floor to the ceiling was either/or or both. The room was cold and empty, too big to fill with any bedroom décor.

Her bed, just like the room, was way too big for her, but she had to admit, it looked awfully comfortable. Also in the room was a make-up counter with a mirror, also overly sized, that reached the ceiling, a large armoire, a full body mirror that was as tall as it was wide with five panels that curved out into a half circle, a black feinting couch, and a mammoth, and possibly dangerous, fireplace. Even with all this extra clutter, which were spaced throughout the room, it still wasn't enough to make the room cozier.

"Why is my room so isolated back here?" Raven asked her flatly as she finally noticed the vast canopy doors leading out to the balcony.

"Harder for people to find it, this room was specially made for me, for...when I wanted no company. No one but me can force their way in here, and if no one knows where this room is, they can't find it, unless, you show them."

Raven, who had wandered out onto the balcony looking out into the garden, glimpsed Welkis and Naten sitting on a stone bench arguing, well Nate was arguing and Welkis was laughing, as she appeared Welkis, and then Naten, stopped their banter and looked up at her, giving them a small wave, she re-entered the room and closed the doors. "Why such high security?"

Huma smiled in answer, "You'll thank me later, when you want some alone time." Smoothing out some of the wrinkles on the bed she sat down and offered the spot next to her for Raven to take. "Have a sit, dear; you and I shall have a little chat."

Raven didn't like the implied command in Huma's voice, but she sat next to her out of courtesy. Without an invitation, Huma grabbed Raven's hand and patted it with a soothing touch.

"First off, let me say that, you, arriving here unattached to Naten is going to cause a bit of a fuss. It would have been fine if we could have kept it quiet, but Marius is a cunning little bastard and by telling, he knows the outcome will be in his favor."

Huma paused here to gather her thoughts, not knowing where to begin. She decided on the beginning.

"Long ago, a disease swept across our realm, killing all Revines in its path. It didn't touch the humans, animals, or the plants, just us. It killed everyone. Our family, rather what's left of our family, are all that are left. But we were not left unscathed; it's left us infertile." Huma's voice faltered and she rubbed Raven's hand comfortingly, whether she was trying to give it or receive it, Raven wasn't sure.

"I wanted many children, I only have two. Many of us wanted many children, but we're lucky with the ones we have, because our children, those who hadn't reached puberty yet, were left unscathed by the disease. They could still have children…to a certain limit. Some tried with humans, but the women couldn't survive the pregnancy, let alone the birthing, and the men weren't sterile enough. So we turned to other beings, fairies, pixies, elves, sorcerers, anyone that we could find, but most had fled the realm before the plague. We can't open the door in-between realms to at least attempt with other creartures. It seemed, for the longest of times, that we would die out here. That is, until Naten stumbled across this weird old man…he said he was a gatekeeper, and he sold my Naten a key that opened the In-between, and Naten, without even consulting us, left. We knew were he was going, he had glimpsed you in the Lady of Destiny's magic mirror, but with him he took the only way for his cousins to find their matches."

"Well he's back now, you can get the key." Raven offered, but Huma was already shaking her head at this.

"The key crumbled into dust the moment Naten returned home, the man never told us it was limited to only a few jumps."

Raven nodded her head, knowing that it would have happened. "So what's all the fuss about then? What does this have to do with me?"

"To put it bluntly," Huma said firmly, looking Raven straight in the eye. "By not being attached to Naten, and outright refusing his proposal, you are now the utmost available female in the entire realm, alone with 9, no, make that 10 young men who know how important it is to procreate and save their species."

"Oh." was all Raven could say.

"Oh indeed." Huma answered as she let Raven's hand go and stood up abruptly. Brushing the wrinkles from her dress, Huma looked back at Raven with a reasonable look on her face. "You know, you can save yourself a lot of trouble by marrying Renatenial now."

"No, I'm good." Raven answered her firmly.

Huma smiled. "You can't blame a mother for trying. Now if I was you, I'd take a nap, because they're all going to show up later to meet you, and you're going to be busy." Smiling once more for encouragement, Huma left Raven to her own devices.

Raven let Huma's words sink in and she wallowed them around in her head in contemplation. By the time Naten entered her room through the balcony windows, she had already decided on what she was going to do.

"Raven, finally, we're alone. Quick before they arrive I have to tell you…" but before he could finish his sentence, a tentacle had wrapped itself around his throat and pinned him to the bed.

"Tell me what?" Raven asked in a deadly calm voice, her back to him as she examined her nails. "That the only reason you sought me out was to hole me up back here and turn me into a baby making machine. Or, by not at least _pretending _to be engaged to you, I was going to get chased after by a pack of horny Revines. Well? Which one Naten? Which was it, or do you have something else to tell me? And if you do, think hard about what you say, because I am extremely angry with you at the moment." Raven said all this in her monotone voice, the only indication to her inner anger was the manifesting of her demon persona as she finally rounded on him.

"Please." he choked. "It's hard staying afraid when you look like that."

She released him with a huff of disgust. Quickly regaining his breath, Naten tried to explain himself.

"I wasn't going to hole you up here; you would have been free to roam around, at least until the 4th trimester."

Raven growled to show her displeasure.

"Alright, fine…I'm sorry. At first yeah, but as I told you, I love you. I've loved you for a long time, and I'll always love you. None of these guys care about you the way I do. No one ever will, that's just how much I love you. Raven, please, before they come…will you marry me?" Getting on his knees, Nate looked up at her with pleading eyes filled with love.

"Nate, no, I don't love you. I don't love anyone. I care for you, I care for all my friends, I don't know these guys, nor do I care for them…but..."

"Raven!" he cried as he wrapped his arms around her waist and buried his face in her stomach. "Don't make me kill my relatives!"

"Don't worry Nate," she said soothingly as she gripped his chin and forced him to look at her, "You're the only one I know, and you're the only one who knows me."

He looked at her suspciously with narrowed eyes and he suddenly grew angry. Pushing away from her, he hopped to his feet with his fists clenched angrily to his side. "Stop playing with my mind!"

Raven stared after him with a blank expression. "Naten, I am not happy with you at the moment, you've been lying to me, your family intrigues me, and I'm a demon. I can't pass up this opportunity to have a little fun."

"Damnit, this isn't a game Raven! This is the future of my people! Not everything's about you! Why can't you understand that something's are important to other people?"

"When you stop trying to turn me into the old Raven. She is gone. She accepted her demon heritage and now this is what you get." she ranted all this in her monotone voice as she gestured at herself. "Why can't you understand, that as a demon, I am incapable of things. That some emotions don't come as easily as they once did."

"I don't believe you." Nate continued stubbornly.

"Get out." Raven sighed as her demon persona faded away.

"Get out? Why? What did I do?" Truly confused, Nate watched as Raven's eyelids fell to half mast and he was forced from the room by an unknown force. "Raven please, can we talk about this?"

His answer was to have the doors slammed in his face.

* * *

In time, the sky grew dark and the torches along her wall lit up instantly. She had been meditating when she noticed two things. First thing she noticed was the silence. Back home, her night meditations were accompanied by a soft orchestra of crickets and frogs. But here, the night was immensely silent and had woken her from her trance.

The second was the fact that the sun had departed it's throne in the sky only to come stand outside her door.

In reality, the sun had actually been Luci coming to get her. The guest were on their way. Raven, despite her semi fight with Nate, found herself oddly excited at the prospect of meeting the rest of Naten's family. For a brief second, she saw herself as supreme overlord of the dying race with their men fawning over her with false hope of her choosing one of them. She chuckled at the notion and said nothing when the other glanced at her.

She and the family stood in the foyer, awaiting the guests arrival. They stood side by side, with she and Naten pulling up the rear. Said Prince was uncharacteristically quiet, with a face set up for challenge, she found the look endearing and so when the doors opened and he grabbed her hand, she let him. Besides, the procession of Revines was just beginning.

"Nate, behave." Huma ordered out of the corner of her mouth, a smile, though forced, plastered across her face. Next to her, Welkis was grinning in anticipation, looking identical to Luci, who giggled and fidgeted by his side.

Nate acted as if he didn't hear his mother, but the clenching of his jaw and the tightening of his hand let Raven know otherwise.

The doors were now fully open and a family of five entered.

The Sun Lord, Solis, his wife Fidel, Lady of Happiness, and their family.

Solis, Welkis's brother, looked almost identical to his older brother, but were Welkis was a contrast of dark colors, Solis had white blond hair, his skin was golden, his eyes like molten lava, and had a large black sunburst for markings that started somewhere near his stomach.

As they went, they each greeted one of the family, and when Solis finally reached Raven, who stood on the end, his handshake swept warmth throughout her body. She idly noticed that he wasn't as intimidating as his brother.

Fidel was a bubbly woman with curly red hair and freckles. She looked like a regular human from their on, but just being near her, made Raven feel overcome with hope and happiness.

They had three kids; twin boys and a girl.

The twins names were Sonet and Wryth. They were the Lords of Sound and Sense. They were tall and lanky with white hair which bangs covered their eyes. They too looked ordinary, but as she shook their hands she was schooled otherwise. Sonet was the first to grab her hand. Nothing happened, but then he spoke and her world flipped. She had never known that anything as beautiful as his voice could exist, and she never knew before this experience, that a simple sound could entice such a response from her. He smiled, knowing what his voice did to her, but before he could open his mouth again, Wryth had pushed him forcefully out of the way and taken his place.

"Forgive him, he gets drunk on the sound of his own voice." Wryth apologized for his brother briefly, his voice, although identical to his brother's, sounded gruff, idiotic, and clumsy to her ears, but as he grabbed her hand, everything he said was lost to her. At his touch, she became acutely aware of where their bodies were connected. She felt as if her very body was afloat a million tiny bubbles, and she knew, that if he didn't let go, she would go through the roof.

She was rescued from her torment when Nate and Sonet had both gotten enough. Nate tightened his hold on her hand and tugged her closer, growling angrily at Wryth, who had gotten yanked from Raven's presence by an angry Sonet. Free of his touch Raven swayed on her feet, subconsciously noting that the twins were now fighting, much to the displeasure of their parents, who wanted their sons to look mature in front of a potential bride.

Their sister ignored them as she took their place in front of Raven. Their sister, Sino, Lady of Matter, seemed stiff to Raven. She had long blond hair, that fell in a curtain along her back all the way to her knees. She didn't smile as she greeted Raven, and her large black eyes seemed to take Raven in all in one glance. Every inch of her looked sharply focused, making others in her vicinity seem almost blurred. When Raven shook her hand, she mentally put up shields in her mind, just in case the girl was psychic. The girl didn't seem to notice this as she rejoined her family.

While Raven had been greeting Solis's family, others had entered and she was put into a steady greeting cycle.

Another family of five. Lord of the Sea, Marin, his wife, Sato, Lady of Plants, and their three kids; Stipe, Ven, and Imbri.

Marin was fairly short compared to the other men she had met. His skin was blue with thick, curly green hair. Unlike the others, Marin wore a thick beard on his face rather than being clean shaven like the others. Marin made up for his shortage of height by being more muscular than the other men. When he shook Raven's hand, his grip was strong and he smiled warmly at her. When he spoke, his voice was deep and smooth.

Sato, Huma's older sister, was taller and thinner than her husband. Sato's skin was pale green, her red hair, long and straight, fell to her knees and draped around her like a cape. Sato had the same green eyes as her sister and when she walked, she seemed to glide. To Raven, she looked a bit spacey, and when she shook her hand, Raven saw that her nails were long and yellow. She didn't speak.

The youngest daughter, Stipe, Lady of Trees, took after her mother more than her father. Stipe was tall and thin. Her skin was the color of bark, and her hair, which was a dark green, fell to her shoulders and draped over her face in strands, reminding Raven of a weeping willow. Her purple eyes were wide and pupiless, but she seemed to have no problem seeing.

The oldest, Venn, Lord of the Hunt, was a dark and imposing boy. He stood tall and was broad in the shoulders. Two large dear antlers sprouted from the top of his head, and they looked just as dangerous as he did. His skin seemed to be in constant moving shadows, and his eyes were yellow. When he spoke, Raven saw that he had pointed teeth and a blood red tongue. He smiled when he saw her studying him, although on him, the smile was anything but pleasant looking. She found herself smiling back and ignoring Naten squeezing her hand in retained anger.

Imbri, the middle child, was the Lady of Rain, and she looked wet. That was the first thought that went through Raven's mind as she laid eyes on her. She was a mixture of blues and grays. Her black hair hung limply around her, but was so shiny that it looked wet. Her skin was light teal and her eyes were crystal blue.

The next family was only a family of three. Fera, the Lady of Beasts, and her two children, Marius and Flora.

Fera, who had been married to Welkis's older brother, was tall, dark, and beautiful. The first thing Raven noticed about her was that her eyes were illuminated like most animals' tended to be. She had smoky black skin and even darker hair, that fell in curls about her. Her arms were powerfully built, and Raven suspected the rest of her was also.

She had already met Flora and Marius, so they didn't bother with introductions as much as the others and only greeted her with a smile, except Marius who sought to prove where he thought he stood with Raven, by stealing a hug and a kiss on the cheek, this was rewarded by Naten almost attacking, but the Lord of Speed was too fast.

The next two were an odd couple to behold. Vic, the Lord of Time, and his charge, Effie, the Lady of Wildness. Both had lost their family during the plague and now took care of each other.

Vic, was old. That was all Raven could think of to describe him. Vic was old. He didn't look it, but he felt it. His skin was taught and young, but his hair was old and white. His eyes, too were old and long since lost their ability to see, but the milky orbs blinked and glanced about as if they were as young as a newborn babe. When he greeted her, his handshake was as strong as he looked, but his voice belonged to the oldness that held him. Vic was old…and creepy.

Effie, Lady of the Wild, was related to none of the other Revine there, but she had been invited because she was one of the last remaining Revine in the realm. Effie, Raven thought when she saw her, was gorgeous, probably the prettiest girl there. Her skin was a rich mahogany brown, and her thick hair, was an inky black and framed her face beautifully. She seemed unfocused and when she went to shake her hand, Raven found herself gripping a bird's claw.

Catching Raven staring at it, Effie quickly snatched it back. Looking into her face, Raven saw that her eyes never stayed the same color for more than a second. As she stared at her, Raven saw that her skin was just as bizarre as her eyes, for she saw leopard print formed by fish scales along her neck but in a flash it dissolved into feathers and then back into skin.

Effie glanced at the other Revines but they didn't seem to notice. Smiling secretly at Raven, she introduced herself, and Raven saw the forked tongue of a snake for a brief second. Raven smiled back. The girl was beautiful but unstable.

The family after that was composed entirely of men. Nox, the Lord of Night and his two boys; Ignis and Sidus.

Nox, was Welkis's older brother. His skin was dark blue, and he had shoulder length black hair. Like Marin, Nox had a beard, but it was trimmed shorter and neater that Marin's. Nox was taller and more built than his little brother, but Raven still found him less intimidating than Welkis. There was just something about Welkis that made her tremble. When she shook hands with Nox, he looked at her just like the others boys had. Sizing her up for possibilities. Before she could react to this new incident, Nate was growling protectively next to her. Nox smiled and moved on.

Ignis, the youngest, seemed to know what his dad was thinking and was obviously embarrassed by it. Ignis was the Lord of Fire and smelled just like Meashale to Raven…only cleaner. Ignis was a bit on the short side, being evenly matched with Raven, but made up for it, like his uncle Marin, with muscles. His hair was orange and moved about his head like an actual flame. His eyes were red and when she shook his hand, she felt the flames of his inner passion. She felt the fire within her, a sensation she had missed with Meashale being gone, and knew that Ignis felt a similar awareness, if the way he smiled, and how his eyes glowed was anything to go on. Even though she couldn't see it, she felt her hair moving in the waves of heat that radiated throughout her body. She held his hand the longest and as he let her go she smiled widely at him. Much to the annoyance of everyone else, especially Nate who knew the real reason for it.

Sidus, came next and he was simply breathtaking. Sidus, the Lord of the Stars, lived up to his name. His skin was a golden bronze and his short curly hair seemed to be shaped like a star around his head. He was, she admitted, the handsomest out of all the boys, and from how he acted, he knew it too. He was also the tallest, and so when he grabbed her hand, he had to stoop low to place a kiss upon it. When he did, he glanced into her eyes and Raven saw that his were all black with golden specs. Making it seem as if you were looking into the heavens themselves.

The next group brought a smile to Raven's face before she even met them. It was Lady Fas, and her children; Lethar and Scein. And Lethar was an old friend.

Fas, Lady of Destiny, was the Great Aunt of Welkis and Vic's sister. Like Vic, she was old, but unlike him, she looked the part, but she held herself strongly and proudly. She was a sweet woman, and greeted Raven with a little hug, rather than a handshake.

Lethar was the first to greet her, and when he hugged her, she hugged back. Lethar, Lord of Sleep, had been Raven's only salvation when she had been on the run from her father. After she had left Azarath, to hide from her father, Raven had gone to a void. Whilst there, the nothingness would have killed her, but to preserve her sanity, Raven had put herself into a coma like sleep. Lethar had found her there and abated the loneliness that ate at her soul. He had taken her away from the void and hid her in the dream realm, for which he ruled.

Lethar, never opened his eyes fully, and wasn't handsome or strongly built, nor was he tall. He was average in everyway, except his voice. His voice was soft but loud at the same time. His voice was corporeal, and made everybody's dream seem only a step away. His hair, was wild and blue and his skin a sleepy grey.

Scein, Lord of Knowledge, was Lethar's younger brother. He looked more like the Lord of Mischief, for he was constantly smiling. Scein was cute, but was shorter than Raven and completely void of muscles. His brown hair was combed neatly and pulled into a ponytail. When he shook hands with Raven, he stepped closer to her and winked his eyes sensually. Raven bit her lip to keep from laughing.

"I may be small, but I'm the Lord of Knowledge for a reason…I know what you want." Scein whispered this to Raven in a voice too deep for his body. Whether Naten heard him or not was a mystery to Raven, but the next thing she knew was that Scein had been smacked out of her way like a bug.

The last family was a family a two. Brother and sister, Huma's niece and nephew, was all that was left after the plague.

The brother, Warren, had been a kid when the plague struck and was still able to have children. Now he was an adult, although still young, and took care of his little sister, Calci. Warren was the Lord of Warfare. He was tall and broad, with blood red hair and hard black eyes. He looked as if he loved to fight and was good at it. That was as far as he went for his title. When he spoke and moved, he moved gracefully, more like a dancer than a fighter. When he shook her hand, his grip was gentle. He smiled kindly at her, and Raven realized, he would be trying to court her too.

Calci, Warren's little sister, was the Lady of Stone. She was a big awkward girl with a powerful build, but as Raven looked at her, she saw that she lacked much self-esteem. Calci was pretty, but she wasn't as delicate and pretty as her cousins. She had long, thick, black hair, which she had in a braid along her back, and stone colored skin. She stood as tall as the men, and probably almost as muscled. Her eyes were a dull grey and they reeked of sadness. When she spoke, her voice was soft and barely audible, but her grip was strong and true. She seemed to hate that about herself and quickly released Raven's hand after greeting her.

A sudden clap of thunder made Raven jump out of the slight stupor she had fallen into. As her head cleared she noticed something she hadn't noticed a moment before. The clap of thunder had been Welkis clapping his hands to get everyone's attention, and that's when she noticed that the room was utterly quiet.

She thought it had something to do with the built up tension the boys were emitting. No one was looking at each other, there was no growling or teeth baring, better yet, everyone was smiling and paying attention to Welkis, but there a low buzzing in the air, and Nate was gripping her hand painfully tight.

"Now that everyone's here…" Welkis began with a smile, ignoring all the hostility in the air, "…and met our guest, it's time to eat."

With an air of indifference, Welkis headed for a set of double doors on the other side of the hall, no one made a move, waiting until their king reached the doors, but as he passed Raven, he shot his arm out and caught her around the shoulders, bringing her along with him. That's when they moved. It was only a subtle twitching of muscles, but they moved, and Welkis saw them.

Although his back was to them, Welkis knew, and smiled, giving Raven's arm a firm squeeze, deliberately goading them. Raven could do nothing but go along.

As he walked, Welkis never again made any acknowledgement to the other Revine behind him, automatically assuming they were following, and a quick glance over her shoulder confirmed that he was right. Raven wondered if their obedience was just for his kingly status, or if they were as intimidated by him as she was.

As they reached the doors, they flew open, showing Raven that their little party, wasn't a little party after all. The dining room, was filled with people. There were five long tables pushed to the side of room. Two on each side and one to the back. She assumed the one to the back was for Welkis's family, for it held the biggest chairs. The other tables, although it occupied guests, had a few spots lefts for the remaining Revine.

"Hope you don't mind the company," Welkis began, nodding to those seated, but as he entered the room they stood, "but these little get togethers are extremely awkward with just the few of us, so the royals were invited to fill up spots."

"Fine by me." Raven mumbled in reply, not liking all the attention centered on her.

"Wonderful!" he said loudly as a bark of laughter escaped his throat, sounding like thunder to her ears.

As she came to find out, the seat fillers, were some of the royal humans of the realm. Kings and Queens with their Princes and Princesses came to enjoy Revine dinning. Among the royals were a few mages, witches, sorcerers, famous, to the Revine realm, heroes, and just special people who were lucky enough to be invited.

She sat at the head table with Naten and his family, with Naten to her immediate left. The food had been delivered by servants, to whom had been absent from her knowledge. The servants were short and extremely thin, with skin the color of a mossy tree stump. They're clothing consisted of strips of material that seemed to be just thrown on them. It covered all important parts, just barely, but left random bits exposed, like an elbow, thigh, or shoulder blade, but would cover another random part, like head, right side of the face, or an eye or ear.

They were quick with the serving and from what she tasted, were excellent cooks too. But as she ate, the only ones that seemed to enjoy the food were herself, Welkis, and a few royals. Everyone, she felt, were anxious and on edge. She could feel eyes on her: studying, observing, wondering.

She ignored them as she continued eating, not once acknowledging them. Next to her, Nate was doing the exact opposite. He was devouring his food viciously, she assumed showing his cousin what he would do to them, and kept his eyes trained on everyone at once.

The seat fillers, she sensed, knew something was up and were quite nervous around the Revine. She didn't blame them, the room was filled with the low buzzing of their frequency, as they tried to retain themselves.

For a brief second, she wondered if she could handle this situation she had gotten herself in, she could easily escape now, morphing into the shadows and making a steady retreat back to the human realm, but it only lasted a second. Of course she could handle a bunch of rowdy boys…she was the Mistress of Seduction after all. With a small smile, she wondered what Beastboy was doing back home.

* * *

Back in the human realm, in Jumpcity, at the titan Tower, most of the titans had retired to bed long ago; most.

Not Beastboy, he hadn't slept a full night since Raven left. Like many a times before, he crept from his room, and in the form of some small, night creature, he crept to Raven's door, wondering, if he should enter, would he be invited to stay. But not tonight, tonight Raven wasn't there at all. He was all alone.

A loud clap of thunder sounded throughout titan tower just before the power went out. The titans had awoken from their sleep, and drowsily made their way out into the halls to do a head count. The usual routine, just to make sure the power outage was actually from the storm and not just a crazed villain breaking curfew to get at them. But this time, three titans were missing. Two were gone visiting family, but the third, the third should have been there.

"Beastboy! Beastboy!" they called urgently, now fully awake, as they trekked through the silent tower, the backup power only allowing an eerie glow to show them the way.

It wasn't until they passed Raven's room did they hear it…music.

"You don't think…" Robin asked quietly to his fellow titans as they gathered around the closed door.

"God, I hope not." Cyborg prayed, taking a deep breath before he opened the door.

The room was dark, just the way Raven wanted it, no backup light touched this place, but yet, the only thing that penetrated the dark, quiet tomb, was music. Lionel Richie to be exact…_'Hello'_.

"Aw, man BB, what are you doing to yourself?" Cyborg whispered as he began to shine his light into the room, looking for the source of the music, and hopefully finding their lost friend.

They found him.

"Avert your eyes Star!" Cyborg yelled to Starfire at the same time Robin through his hands over them. He turned off his light, he didn't want to see it either. "What's wrong with you?"

Green eyes pierced the darkness to stare hungrily at them.

"I want Raven." a voice yelled from the darkness, choked with tears just as a clawed hand raked itself across Raven's ruined bed, tearing up the interior and spilling the innards of the bed onto itself. The music was then joined by the anguished croons of some unknown animal.

And fearing for their lives, their sanity, their eyes, and whatever was making that noise, the titans crept out of the room and closed the door behind them.

A moment of silence elapsed between the three as they glanced at each other cautiously.

"First off," Robin began, "Let's never talk of this again, and secondly, we have got to do something about him. Seriously…he has lost it."

"Agreed, and I suggest," Starfire added, "we barricade friend Raven's room until…further notice."

They all nodded in agreement, just as the crooning behind the door became louder, filled with sounds they'd rather not have heard.

* * *

Back in the Revine realm, Raven suddenly felt the attention of a greater force, now she was done, Welkis was now focused on her too.

Putting her fork down, Raven began straightening her cloak unnecessarily. When she did finally look up, she found Welkis still looking at her with a smile on his face.

On catching her attention, Welkis's smiled broadened, and with a thunderous clap of his hands, he gained the attention of the rest of the hall.

"My fellow dignitaries, once again we have been given a great opportunity. The opportunity for a new life. For too long we have lived with the question of whether our race will live. But as always, an answer has been provided for us. This time in the form of a demon. She is the Lady Raven and with her we shall become a greater race. But, as last time, she is unattached. She has no man to call her own, but that will soon be put to rest. As of tonight, after her introduction to our realm, any available male who is so interested should proclaim his proposal tonight, or stay silent throughout the courtship of our new Lady. But be warned, this courtship is not for the slight at heart. You will be competing against your fellows here tonight, all whilst trying to win the heart of a demon. You are not only fighting for a mate, you are also fighting for the future of our people." Welkis fell silent, waiting for the murmurs to quiet down and seeing who were likely to wuss out. He saw nothing that disappointed him.

"Lady Raven," Welkis called, as he abruptly faced her, "as the object of Revine attention, you have a say in this. Do you have anything to add, or wish to decline from these affairs?"

Raven gave Welkis a thoughtful, yet blank, stare, idly noticing that all eyes were on her. "No."

Next to her, Naten began making a low, guttural noises. At first she thought he had been growling at her, but she saw that he was glaring at his cousins, who were more than happy to sneer back. The only ones who weren't acting hostiles, were the girls, Warren, and the adults.

"Wonderful," Welkis exclaimed, and the way he said it made Raven believe that whether she agreed or not, didn't really matter.

"Now," he continued, "we dance."

Dance. That seemed to have been what everyone had been waiting for. In a flurry of movement, tables and chairs went skidding and 8 boys, young adults, were on their feet and rushing across the room. Just as fast, the table she was sitting at went flying over their heads, sending plates, glasses, and food everywhere. Nate was suddenly standing in front of her with his air whip out and waiting for a victim. The other boys either flexed menacingly or produced deadly weapons of their own. The only ones who hadn't joined the barrage were Warren and Lethar.

She hesitated only a second, wondering if she should run or fight. Looking to her left, she noticed Welkis leading a concerned Huma out onto the floor. The other adults too had thrown a blind eye to the on coming rumble, each dancing with their perspective mates, or claiming one of the seat fillers as a partner. The remaining humans were warily watching the boys and hesitating as they began to head for the dance floor.

Her attention was pulled back to the situation at hand as she noticed that the Lord of the Incredibly High Jumping Talent had used his great ability to leap over his cousins head and was currently on a downward slope heading straight for her with an extremely satisfied look on his face.

She smiled up at him and gave him a little wave, and the next thing Mar knew, Raven had disappeared into the shadows, and instead of soft feminine flesh, he landed on hard marble flooring. Seconds after that, he was in the midst of a giant dog pile of cousins.

Raven morphed to a place she knew would be deserted, but as she walked out of the shadows of the garden, she found herself in the company of Revines. The girls had found the inside a bit too traumatic and had deserted their posts as soon as the boys began to rampage. The only girl not present was Luci, who found the fight much more entertaining than girl talk.

As Raven emerged a few of the girls let out little shrieks while the rest merely turned interested heads her way. They were lounging around the stone benches and as she approached all talk hushed, and she was then sure that they had been talking about her.

"We would have thought for sure that you would rather stay and enjoy the boys acting idiotic around you." Sino was the first to say what they were all were thinking.

Raven, who didn't like the tone in which Sino spoke with, gave her a toothy grin, making her teeth look a bit pointier that they need to be. Her response was a hesitant look of fear as Sino's cocky smile faltered.

"Be nice Sino," Flora chided her, making flowers bloom in the bushes that surrounded them. "She's out here for the same reason as us."

"You hate formal functionings to?" Stipe asked, from her twisted position in one of the many trees in the garden, but as Raven looked at her more closely, Stipe looked as if she was merged with it.

"You don't like being around too many people?" Effie offered, her skin changing drastically in texture and species.

"Maybe, she doesn't like being in doors." Imbri, who had been busy looking up into the sky added.

"I just like playing hard to get." Raven told them bluntly.

She got mixed feelings from the girls: Sino frowned in annoyance, Stipe fell out of her tree laughing, Calci, the ever silent Calci, looked embarrassed by the thought, Imbri was smiling at her with fondness, Flora was shocked, and Effie….Effie was stalking a butterfly with a thin coating of black fur and a long black tail trailing her back.

"So," Flora said hurriedly, wanting to change the subject. "how did you meet Naten?"

"I'm a crime fighter in the human realm and he joined my team."

"A crime fighter? Human realm? I had figured all demons were in the demon realm and…well I had assumed they would be villains. Wouldn't you _prefer_ villainy?" Stipe asked, never getting up from the ground and looking up at Raven curiously.

"I prefer to make other villains tremble at the mere mention of my name. Makes me feel badder than them."

"Really? Was Naten a good crime fighter?" Calci asked, her soft voice barely audible.

"Yeah, he was a good crime fighter."

"But?" Flora ventured, knowing that Raven was leaving something out.

"But he's weird and gets on my nerves."

"Yeah, that sounds like him." Flora laughed.

"But he must've done something right. You're here." Stipe added with a smile. At this Raven felt the corner of her mouth twitch.

"You know, you're not the first one Naten's brought home to court." This came from Sino and Raven found herself not liking the Lady of Matter much. But she found her anger at Naten rising to push her dislike for Sino to the back of her mind. Secrets and lies were springing up everywhere about her Naten.

Sino seemed to realize she hit a nerve and she smiled nastily. "Yeah, you're the second he's brought home, but only the third he's courted. I'm surprised he hasn't told you."

"I'm not." Raven muttered angrily. It seemed Naten had neglected to tell her a lot of things.


	11. Chp 11 The Courting

**Chp. 11 The Courting **

* * *

Raven's face was the epitome of blank.

"Yeah, there were two other girls." Sino continued. "Their names were Quirty and Leila. Leila was the first girl he sought after. She was a weak girl, a gargoyle and she was easily influenced. Naten took advantage of her and was going to bring her here to make his mate."

"Sino, don't." Flora warned as they frowned disapprovingly at their cousin.

Sino shot them a look that quelled any up roaring in them, before continuing. "He didn't love Leila; he was just going to use her. Maybe he's using you too. I think he just likes weak girls."

Sino paused a moment for dramatic effect. "But Leila never made it here. She was afraid of Naten and ran off as soon as an opportunity arose. I don't blame her; he wasn't very nice to her. Then there was Quirty. Now, Quirty, she made it here. She actually loved Nate and he…liked her. Quirty was a banshee, and a powerful one at that. She and Nate was a great couple. I've never seen Nate so happy."

"So what happened to her?" Raven asked, curious, despite her effort to stay immune to the tale.

"Nate killed her because she wouldn't marry him." Sino answered matter-of-factly.

"No!" Flora interrupted. "He didn't kill her. No one knows what happened to her. She just disappeared."

"That makes me feel better." Raven mumbled as a small smile crept onto her face.

"What are you smiling at?" Sino snapped, upset that Raven wasn't angry.

"Because none of that's of my concern. I am not weak like the gargoyle, nor am I going anywhere like the banshee. I came here because Nate is my friend and he wanted me to visit, but I'm staying because you are an endangered species, and my impish lineage is intrigued." Smiling, Raven showed off her pointy teeth again, loving the nervousness she caused by doing so.

"You really are a demon, aren't you?" Effie stated as she came to stand next to Raven, her own image now reflecting demon qualities, her smile just as menacing as Raven's. Raven could not detect any fear or nervousness from her. She found herself liking the unstable revine, and knew she would have to work harder to scare her.

"Uh-oh!" Flora exclaimed, casting nervous eyes over Raven's head as she and the other girls hopped to their feet.

Raven didn't turn her head, didn't want to show anyone she could succumb to fear or even curiosity, and merely watched the girls with narrowed eyes.

They moved silently and stealthily, as if they had practiced, or done it often. All smiles had turned nervous or disappeared completely. They slowly scattered off into different directions, their forms melting into the shadows of the little garden. Whatever was coming seemed to scare them like rabbits, even Sino and Effie seemed to stiffen, although Effie's back was facing the threat just as was Raven's.

"The boys are on the prowl." Sino muttered to Raven, her eyes darting from over Raven's shoulder to Raven's eyes.

Calci was the first to leave, not bothering to make eye contact as she walked backwards into the shadows. Imbri and Stipe vanished next, their eyes meeting Raven's first, their movements fluid and deliberate.

"Watch for our brother." Imbri whispered, warning Raven with her eyes, before she bowed into the darkness.

"He likes nothing more than a good hunt." Stipe finished, with her eyes wide and giving Raven a brief smile before she seemed to leap into the dark canopies.

"I apologize for anything my brother says or does in advance." Flora mumbled briefly before she bounded off into the bushes.

"My brothers are idiots." Sino muttered defiantly, but as she said it, she cast her eyes downward, looking at Raven through her lashes. Although she spoke with confidence, Sino too seemed to be in a hurry to leave, for she dared not spend a second taunting Raven more and turned into the night and vanished.

Finally it was just Raven and Effie, who was now fidgeting. Directing an apologetic smile at Raven, Effie leaned towards the way the others girls had fled.

"Don't let them break you." she murmured, gripping Raven's arm briefly, in what she had meant to be comforting, but since her hands were slick and slightly webbed, the feeling she evoked was a complete opposite.

Effie took off for the shadows, but before she entered them, she stopped and smiled coyly. "At least it's you and not me."

"Hm." Raven muttered, watching the black bird fly away into the darkness. Girls, it seemed, were to be seen and not heard, and only seen when they were wanted.

"Dear Raven!" a loud, fast voice suddenly interrupted the peace as Raven was violently spun around in a mini twister.

Coming out of the twister, Raven found herself in the arms of the Lord of Speed.

"Marius." she greeted slowly.

The Lord of Speed smiled as his name left her lips. "Dear Raven," he said again, "I am Sir Marius, the Lord of Speed, and you…shall be my Lady." Raven heard growling behind her. The growl was familiar to her heart, and so, because she was miffed at the growler, when Marius aimed to kiss her, which she knew was coming, she let him.

Although that didn't mean she had to kiss him back.

"OI!" many voices yelled from behind her, joining the growler, making Marius laugh in triumphant.

"If you shall be my Lady, then I guess I'd have to keep you to myself." Marius's speech came out so fast that it took Raven a second to get what he was saying, but it took less than a second for Marius to put his plan into action.

Raven didn't think she would ever get use to going this fast. She was vaguely aware of branches brushing past her as Marius ran, but before she could decipher what had touched her or not, something else was there to take its place. It wasn't until she was faced with a vast dark wall that she realized that they had stopped and now stood at the edge of Welkis' castle in the sky and below them was sure death if they should fall. So obviously, Marius jumped and brought her along with him.

"Damn it, Raven!" she heard Naten yell before sheer adrenaline roared in her ears.

Raven didn't scream this time. She was expecting the speed and the sudden plunge, so now she even managed a smile. She felt Marius's hold on her tighten and when she glanced at him, she caught his eye and winked. It was time to take things into her own hands. Or powers.

"Raven, stop fooling around and get away from him." Naten yelled angrily, keeping pace with them as they fell.

"Can't you see that the Lady and I would like to be alone?" Marius taunted, throwing a dismissive hand in Naten's direction as he hugged Raven closer to his body.

"You have a death wish Marius? She's my woman!"

"I belong to no one." Raven spoke up, her voice flat and her eyes on Naten.

"Raven..." Nate whispered, his face softening, which earned him a scornful look of distaste from Raven before her shadow self oozed from Marius's grip and soared away.

"Wow!" Marius breathed. "She's interesting."

"She's more than that!" Naten snapped, throwing his cousin an angry glare.

"I'm sure." Marius replied placidly. "So...are you going to save me? I'm kind of falling to my death here."

* * *

Raven belched and frowned in distaste.

Being around so many Revines was giving her indigestion.

Rubbing her stomach absentmindedly, she gazed at the wooded area she had emerged into. Being one to never let fear of molestation guide her, Raven made to leave her spot when her troop of suitors landed in the brush, some with the assistance of their cousins, and others with the shear force of their powers. They landed with nothing more than a dull thud with all eyes and ears alert for any sign of her. She ducked back into the bushes and waited for them to pass. None made any inclination that they knew she was there, but Venn did pause shortly but kept on with a twitch of his nose. They continued in companionable silence, but after only a few feet, the boys glanced at each other with distaste and disbanded.

Raven waited until they disappeared into the foliage before letting the smile she felt bloom onto her face. She shivered. For a moment, the only thing that was worth her appreciation was the fact that she was alone and there were countless males possibly fighting to the death over her at any moment. That was enough to make any cold-bloodied demon purr with pleasure.

"Silly boys." she whispered.

Emerging from her hiding spot, she stretched and brushed off her robes and leotard. Now the question was, did she make it easy by going out into the open, or did she slink through the woods like a beast of misfortune?

Slinking through the forest, Raven was a bundle of nervous energy as each sound made her jump and fidget. The smile on her face was pure mischief, her teeth pointed with excitement. She didn't know when or where she would run into her suitors, or which ones she wanted to run into.

"I'm so excited." she murmured aloud as she barely suppressed a tremor.

A shadow passed overhead and she froze like a dear in the headlights. Looking overhead, she stooped down to make herself less visible, but she saw nothing move, nor did she hear anything. She frowned in disgust and disappointment. There was no one to get her and she was getting paranoid. Scoffing, she stood to her full height and marched purposely through the brush.

"Got you!" Marius yelled as he was suddenly there and scooped her up and away.

"This is getting old." she told him, wondering how she allowed this revine to keep snatching her up and just how had she ended up straddling his waist and holding on for dear life with him keeping a firm hand on her buttocks. To keep her from slipping and falling of course.

"We have to get far away from here." He was telling her. "There are too many cousins around here and we wouldn't want any of them stealing you away, now would we?"

"I don't know." she answered, running her hands through his wind swept hair as they entered and exited up to three forested areas in less than a minute. "Would we?"

As he ran, she looked deeply into his eyes as she played with his hair. He seemed to lavish in her touch and was unable to break contact as her eyes turned white.

"Am I in for some hot, demon love?" he asked her huskily.

She smiled and winked at him before leaving his embrace. As she morphed into a shadow and out of his arms, Marius had no time to slow down before hitting the tree.

Raven winced as she looked at him. He had hit it pretty hard with a very audible impact. The tree had a newly acquired crack going up its trunk and it still continued to groan as if it too cried out in pain. However, Marius was not crying out in pain, he wasn't even groaning. No, he was unconscious and if the smell of blood was anything to go on, he had a broken nose and an overall busted face.

Knowing she could do nothing for him, but heal him and see if he was all right, Raven morphed into the shadows once more and escaped.

She fell back into form a few miles away in the clearing of a foreboding cave. Seeing the cave and its dark entrance, she smirked, knowing that it was a clichéd trap. Ignoring it, she turned on her heal and made to leave; her way was suddenly barricaded by a wall of flames. Knowing who it was to trap her, and not really wanting to escape, Raven made no attempt to fight or flee.

She felt him coming and spun to face him. Her abrupt about face made him jump in start, but Ignis didn't let it deter him. Grabbing her hand, he bowed and touched it to his forehead. "Dear Lady, I am Ignis, Lord of the Flame, and I will be the one to win you over." Looking at her with his red eyes, the flames flared in response to his attraction. "Although, by the magnetism between us, I'll say I have this in the bag."

"Someone's confident." she replied in her monotone, though she didn't deny the allure that he presented to her. She didn't know it, but apparently, she had missed the passion of fire.

Feeling the mutual attraction, Ignis, with her hand still captured in his, pulled her closer, his flaming hair cooling with anticipation, but before he could draw her in for a kiss, she beat him to it.

Though he was caught off guard by the kiss, Ignis soon melted into it, his hair standing on end and blazing brightly. So enthralled by the kiss, he lost focus on the flames blocking her way and they died down as both their bodies became aflame.

"Enough of this!" a voice yelled out, breaking the mood like glass. The attraction suddenly died along with all of the fire, including that what was trying to burn her newly appointed fireproof robes. Looking around confused, Raven saw him before Ignis and made no move to warn him.

Winking at her, Sonet, or Wryth, she wasn't sure, quickly stepped up to his cousin and whispered in his ear. Ignis reacted violently and Raven watched confused as he clutched his ears screaming in pain as blood leaked from them, his eyes, and nose. With his hair dying out to reveal dull red hair, Ignis collapsed to the ground an unconscious, bloody heap.

"Interesting." she commented as the twin walked to her, ignoring his possibly dead cousin, and kneeled before her. Clasping her hand, he touched it to his head and spoke. And that's when she knew which twin she was now working with.

"I am Sonet, Lord of Sound," he announced, his voice caressing her head lovingly, making her smile and nod as he drew her down to him. "And you, Lady Raven, will be my bride." as the last word left his lips, he crushed his to hers, but as his words ended, she found the spell ending. Yet, just as she was about to pull away, the kiss was ended by the arrival of the other twin.

With seemingly little force, Wryth backhanded his twin into the forest and out of sight. As Raven made a face of impress, Wryth had her in his arms and causing turmoil within her.

She was hot and covered in goose bumps. She was acutely aware of the blood running through her veins and especially how it reacted in her most sensitive parts. Her lips tingled, wanting to be kissed. Her toes were curling involuntarily and her hands were balled tight. His hold on her was too comfortable, his body felt too good against her, and when they rubbed…the friction was driving her crazy. She just wanted to run her hands all over him, and she wanted him to do the same to her. Just as long as he never took his hands off her.

He kissed her, and her soul screamed. Everything important was pushed to the back of her mind as she only focused on the feel of him in her mouth. She felt melded to him, as if they had become one being and that being was ecstasy. She wanted to bring him home to meet the team; she wanted her father to meet him; or just be aware of him.

"I am Wryth, Lord of Sense," he breathed. "And you, Lady Raven, will be my very, happy bride."

'_Of course. Whatever you want. Just keep touching me_.' she thought to herself as she made to make out with him again. But before they could devour each other lips, Sonet was there and tackling his brother down and away from Raven.

As their contact broke, Raven stumbled away, still affected but coming to her own senses. Shaking her head, she watched the brothers fight and grimaced. They were dangerous.

Dizzy, disoriented, and feeling drained; she staggered away into the forest and the dangerous duo. The more she moved, the more her head cleared up. She went from stumbling like a newborn calf to running like a spirit to flying through the woods like the very night itself.

As she flew, she was slightly aware of the animals in the revine world. Most seemed similar to the human realm, like the deer like creatures that now paced her curiously. They looked like regular deer, but their fur was a soft, luminous green and they had three eyes.

Flying with the herd, they made good time, escaping the Revines and their proposals. Leaving the forest behind as they sprinted across the land at a reckless speed. Raven found that she was enjoying herself. Flying in the wilderness, no need to worry about super villains suddenly attacking town, no worrying about being too demonic for the feeble minded. These deer creatures didn't mind the demonic sense they got from her. They probably didn't even know what she was and so had no reason to be fearful. The thought suddenly made her smile. She almost felt like a harmless, innocent young maiden. Almost.

She laughed aloud as she began to spin and twirl in midair. The deer seemed to catch her joy and began to leap in formation around her, before her, under her, and over her.

Not too soon afterward, another creature loomed up out of the grass before them. It was big, furry, with scales on its belly. It looked vaguely bear like, but with none of it ferocity. Upon seeing them, it faulted and turned to ran away.

Seeing it retreat, the deer's third eye suddenly glowed yellow and they opened their mouths to reveal rows of sharp teeth. Screeching loudly, they sped up, leaving a bewildered Raven behind, and attacked the frightened creature with unabridged viciousness.

Raven stopped flying and merely hovered a little ways back from the massacre. The sound of the animal dying was weak, pathetic, and quickly extinguished by its attackers. Before the last of the tremors left the body, the deer had already begun to feast upon it, and the noise they made sounded suspiciously like children giggling. Every now and then one would pause in its eating to glance up at her with what seemed to be grins upon their faces.

* * *

"Okay." she murmured to herself, watching the fiasco with an insipid eye.

After the deer finished eating, Raven continued her adventure with them. How could she be mad at the creatures for being themselves? So they were vicious, meat eating, pack monsters. They were also cute when not covered in blood and gore.

They were now back in a wooded area, soaring through the air, scaring all creatures into hiding, and dodging trees as if they were dodge balls. She was happy; didn't feel as innocent now; knowing that the only reason the deer were calm with her was because they recognized the predator in her.

Suddenly, the deer stopped in their tracks, ears perked up and alert. She froze with them, looking around for what had them so tense. By the way their ears turned from here to there, she could tell they didn't know where the threat was coming from.

On alert, Raven opened her senses and did her own scrutinizing of their surroundings. She listened with a demon's ear, she sniffed the air with a demon's nose, she looked with a demon's eye, and felt around with the senses of an empath.

She heard nothing, she smelled only the forest, she saw nothing, but she felt the terror. It was coming up behind them, its aura dark, dangerous, and thrilling. Its presence raked her senses like a clawed hand and she felt a tremor roll down her back.

Turning around, she stood still until she saw it. The shadows moved and became a body, the branches of the tree turned in her direction and were now a head, and the fireflies grew still to stare at her as eyes. The deer sensed him seconds after she saw him and they bolted with the fear of earthen deer. As they ran, she saw his body ripple as he followed them with his eyes.

Raven found, that when he switched his attention to her, she couldn't break eye contact, and she liked it. This boy was dangerous. As Sonet and Wryth were dangerous to her body and mind, HE was dangerous in his nature. This revine was damn near demonic. He was perfect.

Venn stepped from the shadows, bringing all of him to the wan light. It wasn't much of an improvement. His body seemed made of constantly moving shadows, his antlers seemed to be part of the surrounding trees, and his eyes still glowed with the intensity of fireflies.

Watching him, Raven found herself growling at him, which he was all too quick to return, and she smiled. Quicker than she could give him credit, Venn had bolted and pinned her to a tree, but just as quick, she had switched to her demon form and had tentacles of darkness wrapped around his neck and body, ready to penetrate and strangle if necessary.

He leered at her new body and glanced at the tentacles with interest. Not knowing which set of eyes to look into, he licked his teeth with his red tongue and switched back and forth between the two.

"I am Venn, your Lord of the Hunt, and you, demon, are mine." She liked his voice; it was deep and gravelly, prone to giving people nightmares. She liked his confidence, he was cocky and sure of himself, and she believed that he had a good reason to be. She liked the animalistic predator with the hint of demonic under toning that made up The Lord of the Hunt. He interested her and she interested him. A lot, she assumed, if the kiss was anything to go by. The kiss was a move to dominate and she reacted instantly.

He was the Lord of the Hunt, but she was the Mistress of Seduction and she wouldn't be cowed by any demon wannabe just because he was handsome and good at kissing.

She growled viciously and he growled back. He bit and gnawed her lip and she bit back. He devoured her mouth and she attempted to make him give up his soul. Grunting, growling, and snarling; they made for an unusual couple.

Venn was the first to pull away, Raven's blood seeping from his closed mouth. She felt he let it seep out on purpose, to show her what he had done, what he was capable of.

"You don't taste so different."

"Neither do you." She replied, making a show of licking her lips and showing off her bloodied tongue.

He smiled at her, his teeth coated in her blood, his skin rippling with shadows. "Our children will be glorious."

He lunged for her again, the move fast and vicious in intent, but as his mouth fell to hers he went slack and collapsed to the ground.

"Having fun?" a soft voice asked.

Smiling, she took a step over Venn's fallen body and spun in a circle. As she stopped, she blinked and met the heavy-eyed gaze of the Lord of Sleep. He held out his hand for her and when he spoke the words came out faster than his lips could move. Watching him talk was like watching a poorly dubbed film.

"Walk with me?" he asked; his voice low to her ears but loud and clear in her head.

"Of course." she answered, letting him grab her hand and lead her away.

They walked in a companionable silence, arms entwined together, simply enjoying one another's company. Every now and then, one would smile at a memory that the two had shared and the other knew of which one they thought of.

Raven found the walk easing to her soul and she hadn't realized how tensed and tired she was. Being tracked, courted, and kissed by one revine after the other seemed to be a demanding marathon even for her.

They left the forest behind and were now walking across a grassy plain. She wasn't running, she wasn't being chased, and she wasn't being carried away. So the leisurely stroll let her notice her surroundings and she was surprised by what she had missed. The moon stood large and high in the sky, almost purple in sheen and surrounded by meteorites and a nebula forming the shape of a corkscrew.

She found it beautiful and wondered if she was self centered for not noticing it before. Had her demon heritage made her that way, or had she been so all along? Was she slowly turning back into the monster she had thought herself to be in the Lost Desert? Should she leave these creatures in peace and reevaluate her life? Think about the choices she was making and the consequences of her actions?

She frowned. What the hell was up with that moon? She reconsidered its beauty and declared that she hated it.

Lethar waited patiently for her to do what she needed, her arm still captured in his embrace, and as she looked back at him, he continued on with their walk.

They walked for a long time and they did not stop until they reached the end of the world, or Land's End. They ended up at the shoreline.

"You've changed." He finally said as they stared at the waves crashing just short of their feet.

Raven said nothing, though she went still. Was her old friend about to judge her?

"Your dreams have changed."

"I don't dream." She replied with a small, humorless smile.

"All things dream, even demons. Just most don't remember. But I do."

Now he turned to look at her, but Raven saw no resentment, no judgment, no need to declare his love. He just looked sleepy.

"You've changed." He said again. "Your dreams have gotten darker, they sting the senses."

"I've accepted my demon line." She answered with a shrug. "I'm less human."

"I know. You're becoming neutral, or balanced."

She doubted that. She didn't feel balanced, she just felt more demonic, and the feeling got stronger everyday. "How do you know?"

"Your nightmares have gotten sweeter. And I had gathered as much from the others."

"Others?"

"Naten and your friends."

She said nothing and waited for him to continue.

"You've affected them. You scared the alien; she has nightmares of you turning evil. The human is worried about your state of mind. You did not affect the robot much, apparently he holds you high in his head. Or perhaps he needs an upgrade to be compatible with your own. And the green one…you merely haunt him. Dreams and nightmares. You have been the star in many of his subconscious visions." Lethar paused here and his eyes looked closed in thought. "They disturb me, concerning his usual dreams. They used to be tamer. Boring. What did you do to him?"

Raven looked away, but a grin split her face in two. "I never touched him."

"I fear his mind if you ever were too."

The silence that garnered his words was only broken with the ocean waves.

"Is that your aspiration here? To wreak havoc on the souls and minds of us young revines? As we pursue your heart and body?"

"I am demon." She answered with a shrug. "And what of your goals? To court me? Fool me with devotions of love and win over my heart, mind and soul? Then force me into motherhood? Into slavery? Is that not why you're here, Lethar? Have you come to entrap your dear old friend?"

He looked at her with his languid gaze. "Would you like me to?"

Neither answered and they once more relapsed into silence. With the ocean shushing its repetitive lullaby, and being so close to the Lord of Sleep, Raven found herself wanting to lie down and close her eyes forever.

"My people are doomed." Leth told her blandly. "The adults won't be around forever, they cannot reproduce. Only us children will survive and the cousins would go crazy with their nature without supervision. They would care nothing for maintaining our species. You would be a blessing to our people. You, Trigon's Key, Opener of Doors, Realm Walker. You could help the cousins find suitable maidens."

"What about the girls?" she asked, noticing how only maidens would be found.

He smiled lowly at her. "You see how things work. The boys will go forth first. That is what they will demand. That is what they will get."

She scoffed. "This realm is stuck in barbarian days."

His smile stretched and his eyes seem to come to life with amusement. "We used to be worse."

"I don't doubt that." She replied, his smile contagious.

They sensed someone approaching and went still. Tilting his head, Lethar nodded once before giving her a quick bow. "I'll let you get back to your whoring." He said, and as she blinked in surprise, not knowing whether to laugh or be offended, he was gone.

Glancing around, she saw no sign that he was ever there, not even a footprint, for hers were the only ones she saw.

"Hm." She commented to herself before turning around to startle the revine coming up behind her.

Sidus was just as beautiful as she recalled and being out at night only put him in his natural environment and the effect was marvelous. He seemed to glow. Continuing his advance, he strode to her side, grabbed her hand and bowed it to his forehead before looking at her with his startling eyes.

"I am Sidus, Lord of the Stars, and we, dear Lay Raven, are destined to be." Standing and towering over her, he looped one arm around her waist and bent her over to kiss her like a romance cover come to life. The kiss was quick and romantic; she felt nothing for him.

"Walk with me?" he asked, offering her his arm.

She shrugged and circled her arm around his. So they walked down the beach. Demon and revine, arm in arm, small, dark and intimidating with tall, bright, and handsome. She grew bored quickly and he couldn't get enough of himself talking. And he did it a lot. A lot of talking, about himself.

They walked and he talked about his lands, his many conquests, and how hard it was to get his hair into the perfect degree of bounciness. He talked so much she fell asleep during their walk and when she came to he was still going.

"Enough!" she finally snapped as she halted in her step and snatched her arm from his grasp.

He turned towards her in alarm.

"You." she hissed with contempt and narrowed eyes. "You bore me."

His face fell in despair and he looked all the more beautiful with pouty lips and saddened eyes. Raven looked on at his beauty in contempt. It was all just a show.

As she rose into the air, his mask fell away to reveal the annoyance he felt. How dare she deny his virginity stealing looks?

* * *

"Beastboy?" Starfire called out as she and the other titans gathered outside Beastboy's room.

After extracting the green hero from Raven's room and barricading, locking, and cementing the room closed, they had hoped that the time away from his obsession would help him to calm down. They had locked him in his room and waited until the horrible noises within had subsided.

Finally, after many hours, many, many hours, it happened. No more growls. The moaning had ceased. They no longer heard the sound of claws gouging chunks out of the interior of the room. They weren't being haunted by the horrible croons of some unknown animal. All was silent.

"Are you alright in there?" Robin asked as he rapped lightly at the door.

They glanced at each other as the silence stretched on, and they were just about to force open the door when it opened to reveal their beloved friend. He looked just as normal as he usually did. They sighed at the sight of his smiling face.

"Hey, buddy." Cyborg greeted gently. "How's it going?"

"Fine." He answered with an embarrassed laugh as he rubbed the back of his head. "Everything's all good. Why? What's up?"

"Just checking on you." Robin answered for him in relief.

"You had us quite worried." Starfire chimed in.

"Yeah, sorry about that. I don't know what came over me. I bet you think I'm pretty weird huh?"

"Always." Cyborg laughed as he patted his green friend on the back. "But we're used to it."

Being nervous for his friend, Cyborg hit him a bit too hard and had caused the titan to fall to the floor, but as he pulled himself back up, something stayed down.

"You seemed to have dropped something." Starfire told him as she bent over to pick it up. "What is it?" she asked suspiciously as she stretched the familiar garment between her fingers.

"Its part of my costume." He yelled frantically as he snatched the material from her grasp, but it was too late. Robin had recognized it for what it really was, and Cyborg had spied the contents of his room as he had lain on the floor. Alerting Robin, they both pushed past the protesting teen and stepped fully into the room.

The room was a mess. The wall scoured with claw marks of all shapes and sizes, the bed was torn to shreds, mirrors smashed and windows shattered. Besides the other broken furniture, the room was littered with trash and scattered with torn clothing, and in the corner, sat a nest. Large enough to accommodate a human adult, constructed from the debris of the destroyed room, and filled with the intact clothing, mostly underwear, stolen from Raven's room.

"Awe, BB." Cyborg muttered sadly. "What's gotten into…you?" but as they turned to confront the guilty party, they found him gone.

* * *

Flying through the air with the greatest of ease, Raven found herself enjoying her alone time. She had just decided to find herself a fortress of solitude and take up brooding again, when her vision was suddenly obscured by pain and light.

Yelling as the pain hit her, Raven was forcefully drug down by a net of revine power made into light. The closer she got to the ground the tighter the net became, and the tighter the net became, the more pain she felt, and the more pain she felt the angrier she became, and the angrier she became the net would strengthen in power and shrink in size.

"Damn this conundrum!" she growled angrily, grabbing and tearing at the net, only to have it repair instantly.

"I know, right?"

Stopping mid growl, Raven realized she had touched down and that now a tiny little man child was standing over her holding the end of her net in his hands,

"Little revine." She greeted ominously. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Well I was planning on proposing my intent to court you, but…now that I've got you here in person, I find myself a little….lost for words. And I'm a little put off by that attitude _madam_."

"Want to play a game? Let me loose, Little revine."

"Now. That sounds like a bad idea."

"Want to try dying this once?"

"Hey, threats aside, you're pretty darn cute, and I might be valuable asset to have as your husband,"

"You're weak and unremarkable. I care not for looks, and you do not possess the flames I crave. I sense no strength or power from you nor the maliciousness that suits me. Little revine, set me free."

"That's mean." He said, his face deflating at the black eyed stare she sent his way. "But I am the Lord of Knowledge, and I can be of more assistance than you give me credit for."

"I'll rip your soul out through your navel and make it my slave."

"More threats? I think you may have a problem."

"You'll have more problems than that if you don't release me now."

"Listen to me." He told her, suddenly serious. "I may not have insight into the future, but I _know_ where our existence is heading. I'm not strong, they'll eat me alive."

He went silent as his mind wandered on, but before he could open his mouth, he was suddenly crushed under the feet of a new arrival. The young revine looked as if his spine was broken, and he made no noise or movement, but Naten only had eyes for Raven.

"I think your cousin's dead." Raven said as Nate set about releasing her from her net and helping her to her feet.

"Are you alright?" he asked, looking her over.

"Fine." She answered offhandedly as she straightened her clothes and reverted to her normal state, as she finished, she looked up at Nate expectantly.

Nate returned her look with one of confusion. "Uh, come on. We should go before anyone else shows up." He grabbed her hand and made to take off with her, but she remained rooted to the spot.

"What is it?"

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Aren't you going to propose your intent too?"

He deflated . "What? You want me to play along with this charade?"

She shrugged and removed her hand from his grasp. Rising into the air, she made an inclination that she was about to leave.

"Why?" he demanded. "You know how I feel! Why are you doing this to me?"

"I've had a few interesting offers tonight, Renatenial. What's to keep me from following up on one of them?"

"You're serious." He couldn't believe it. Staring up at her, feeling betrayed, he suddenly growled in anger and began beating himself in his chest. "You're breaking my heart! Do you know that? Breaking! My! Heart!"

"I never promised I wouldn't." She whispered.

He suddenly began to laugh a humorless, heartbroken laugh. "Fine!" he yelled, kicking his fallen, forgotten cousin.

Grabbing her hand from the air, he placed it on his forehead before giving it a rough kiss. "Dear Raven, Cast off Princess of the Demon Realm, Keeper and abuser of my neglected, beaten heart, Promised of my soul, and Recipient of my Undivided Love. I am Renatenial, Lord of Air, Prince of the revine Realm, Protector of the Innocent of the Human Realm as a Teen Titan, and you will make me FUBAR, if you will become my beloved wife."

"FUBAR?"

"Yeah. Right?" He looked confused. "Beastboy told me that. Fortunate upon a blissful and adoring Raven? Right?"

"No. Absolutely not." But she turned away to hide her smirk. "But it probably fits in this situation."

He tried to see in his head what else the acronym stood for, but could not for the life of him, get anything else. "That does not matter at the moment. Raven, will you marry me?"

Raven still did not look his way nor did she offer an answer, and an after an awkward silence, she gave him a noncommittal grunt.

He scowled at her. "What the hell does that mean?"

She slipped her hand from his and rose a little higher into the air. Placing a hand over her stomach, she gave him a blank stare.

"I think I'm hungry."

"We just ate." His scowl deepened as he stood up taller.

"Is that so?" she asked with a curve of her lips.

"You're not going to give me an answer." He knew the answer, so he didn't even bother to relay it as a question.

She looked at him with something akin to sympathy. He lowered his head at the sight of it. When you loved someone, pity wasn't the look you wanted to see. Most of the looks Raven gave him were not the looks anyone wanted to see when in love.

"Did you say yes to any of the others?" his voice was quiet. A soft rumble of distant thunder. He felt a coldness wash over his body in the aftermath of his question. She didn't answer him right away, and he feared the look he would see if he were to look up. Instead, he looked at his fist and watched them clench and unclench. The knuckles bulging and turning white. Idly, he thought of his children with Raven. They were sure to be some pale, gloomy looking children. He was blue and she was gray. They were going to look like storm clouds. Fierce, imposing, and wonderful storm clouds. Blue and purple haired little devils. Because that is what they would be. He knew. His kids were going to rain hell on all they came across. And he would sit back and laugh. Laugh wholeheartedly like his father did, only he would have his wife by his side. His love, his life; with Raven standing next to him. With him. Smirking. She didn't laugh, she smirked. A sexy smirk. A sexy ass smirk.

"NATE!" with a look that belied intelligence he looked up at her.

Raven didn't control her impulse to roll her eyes and indulged generously.

"What?" it came out as a long drawl.

"I gave no one an answer." She repeated. "I do not intend to wed any of your psychotic cousins, though I seem to have been proposed to by them all."

It did nothing to comfort him.

"But you might?" he asked.

She shrugged. "If I find any of them interesting enough. If they're…worthy." Nate started to say something but Raven cut him off. "But none may escort me to my room."

"Well at least that's something." He murmured glumly.

"But you."

He looked at her suspiciously.

She floated closer and held out her hand to him. "You can escort me to my room, dear Prince. If you like."

He held her hand and flew up to meet her, and as he did so, he encircled her waist with his arms. "You know damn well, I want to escort you to your bed."

"I said room." She corrected him.

"Same difference." And they flew off into the night sky together.


End file.
